The Georgia Cotton Commission sponsored the King Cotton Awards to recognize outstanding contributions of county agents to Georgia cotton producers.
The Senior Award honors agents with 10 or more years of experience. 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. The awards were presented at the Georgia Association of County Agricultural Agents annual meeting & Professional Improvement Conference in November.
This year’s Senior King Cotton Award recipient was Brian Hayes of Mitchell County, where he serves as the Agriculture & Natural Resources (ANR) agent and county Extension coordinator. He began his University of Georgia (UGA) Extension career in 2014 in Grady County and moved to Mitchell County in 2017. He has also served as the interim ANR agent in Decatur County.
Hayes has worked with cotton producers and the UGA Cotton Team members through multiple on-farm variety trials each year. Throughout his years in Extension, he has assisted growers in management decisions including plant growth regulators, fungicide applications, fertilizer recommendations, insect management and irrigation scheduling.
The Allen B. Fulford Award winner was Blake Carter, who serves as the Agriculture & Natural Resources agent for Effingham County. He began his career with UGA Extension in 2020, where he first served in the same role in Liberty County. Carter holds annual cotton production meetings for local farmers on topics such as agronomy, economics and pest management. Throughout his career, he has conducted and collaborated on several cotton research trials including the Statewide On-Farm Variety trials, nematode variety trials and assisting with research related to deer pressure.
The Georgia Cotton Commission is a producer-funded organization located in Perry, Georgia. The Commission began in 1965. Georgia cotton producers pay an assessment enabling the Commission to invest in programs of research, promotion, and education on behalf of all cotton producers of Georgia. For more information about the Georgia Cotton Commission please call (478) 988-4235 or on the web at www.georgiacottoncommission.org.