By Clint Thompson
The Georgia Cotton Commission (GCC) encourages producers to mark their calendars for its inaugural mid-year meeting scheduled for Wednesday, July 26 at the Nesmith-Lane Conference Center in Statesboro, Georgia.
There is no charge to attend. Pre-registration is requested to help with meal plans. Register online at https://academics.georgiasouthern.edu/ce/conferences/georgia-cotton-commissions-mid-year-meeting/ or call the commission’s office at (478) 988-4235.
Taylor Sills, executive director of the GCC, discusses the importance of this year’s meeting which will be held in conjunction with the University of Georgia (UGA) Pre-Harvest Workshop conducted by members of the UGA Cotton Team as well as the Georgia pre-harvest safety meeting of the Southeastern Cotton Ginners Association.
“We’re really excited about this new program that we’re doing,” Sills said. “We’ve got a great group of speakers to help producers get in the right frame of mind to finish out the crop, which is kind of wild to say. I know this is the first big week of planting here in Georgia. But we’re going to have a program about the crop up to that date.
“Dr. Camp Hand is going to talk about defoliation as we prepare to move into harvest. Our UGA cotton economist Yangxuan Liu is going to talk about the market. Dr. Phillip Roberts is going to discuss late-season insect management, which is a big issue in the state, especially in years where we have large outbreaks of whiteflies and things like that which we obviously hope doesn’t happen in 2023.”
Other Guest Speakers
Two industry speakers will also be in attendance. These include Bart Fischer, co-director of the Agricultural and Food Policy Center at Texas A&M University, and Hank Reichle, president and CEO of Staplcotn.
Tillman White with the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol will also provide an overview of the program and how farmers can benefit from the Climate Smart Cotton Program. The GCC will also present the Georgia Quality Cotton Awards for the 2022 crop.
There will be a 2023 harvest preparation and panel discussion on the prevention of plastic contamination in cotton following lunch and to conclude the meeting.