The Georgia Cotton Commission’s Trustees’ Awards were presented at the commission’s annual meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 29, at the University of Georgia (UGA) Tifton Campus Conference Center in Tifton, Georgia. The Trustees’ Awards are awarded to individuals who have dedicated themselves to the advancement of Georgia’s cotton industry.
The recipients of this year’s Trustees’ Awards were Marvin Ruark and Johnny L. Crawford.
Marvin Ruark
Marvin Ruark grew up on his family’s cotton farm in Bostwick, Georgia and has been farming for more than 50 years in Morgan County. Their family farm produces cotton, turfgrass, broilers and cattle.
Ruark has served as a board member of both Morgan County Farm Bureau and Georgia Farm Bureau, and District Supervisor for the Piedmont Soil and Water Conservation District, Secretary/Treasurer of the Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation. He has also served as a council delegate and board member for the National Cotton Council, Southern Cotton Growers, and the Cotton Board. Ruark was a board member for the Georgia Cotton Commission from 1980 to 2015.
Johnny L. Crawford
Johnny L. Crawford was born into a farming family in Grady County, Georgia. He graduated from Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC) in 1961 and the University of Georgia in 1963. In his first position with UGA, Crawford served as the Extension Plant Pathologist-Cotton based in Tifton, and was a charter member of the Extension Cotton Team. He became the Extension Agronomist for Cotton in 1986 and in the early 1990’s became head of the Plant Pathology Department, where he continued to lead the Cotton Team.
Crawford was awarded the National Cotton Council’s Cotton Foundation Fellowship and was appointed D. W. Brooks Distinguished Professor of Agronomy in 1989. Crawford was recognized as the Cotton Specialist of the Year in 1994.
Producers, research and Extension specialists and other cotton industry associates of high character and integrity who have provided exceptional service to the cotton industry are eligible to receive this award.
The award was named after the Georgia Colonial Trustees who set out to create an agricultural colony to expedite agriculture productivity, which led to a 10-acre “Trustee Garden” to display “modern” farming techniques. The Trustee Garden was established in 1734 in Savannah, Georgia.
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.