The Georgia Cotton Commission sponsored the King Cotton Awards to recognize outstanding contributions of county agents to Georgia’s cotton producers. The awards were presented at the 2023 Georgia Association of County Agricultural Agents annual meeting in November.
The Senior Award honors agents with 10 or more years of experience. This year’s recipient was Scott Carlson, agriculture and natural resources agent in Worth County. He began his UGA Extension career in 1996 and has served in Irwin, Ben Hill, Tift, and Worth counties. Carlson has worked with cotton producers and the UGA Cotton Team members through on-farm cotton variety trials for more than 20 years. He has assisted growers in management decisions including plant growth regulators, fungicide applications and insect management.
The Junior Award, named the Allen B. Fulford Award, honors the accomplishments and memory of Allen B. Fulford, who served as a county Extension agent and state cotton agronomist. This award credits those with less than 10 years of service.
This year’s winner was Benjamin Reeves, agriculture and natural resources agent for Berrien County. He began his career with UGA Extension in 2018, where he first served in the same role in Candler County. Reeves holds annual cotton production meetings for local farmers on topics such as agronomy, economics and pest management. He has conducted and collaborated on multiple cotton research trials, including the Statewide On-Farm Variety trials, the evaluation of cotton seed mixing on net returns and evaluating insecticides for cotton aphid control.
The Georgia Cotton Commission is a producer-funded organization located in Perry, Georgia. The Commission began in 1965. For more information about the Georgia Cotton Commission please call (478) 988-4235 or on the web at www.georgiacottoncommission.org.