The Beltwide Cotton Conference has been going on all week in San Antonio. The Conference is all about improving and enhancing cotton production, but some policy issues always come up – especially when trade is such a vital part of the US cotton industry. National Cotton Council President and CEO Dr. Mark Lange spoke at Beltwide on Thursday to explain just what came out of last month’s WTO meeting in Hong Kong and how it impacts cotton. I couldn’t go this year but Southeast Agnet’s Randall Weiseman, who has been attending, was kind enough to send us a portion of that speech. Listen here (MP3 5MB)
Some other announcements from Beltwide include:
Dr. Daryl T. Bowman, a professor of Cotton Breeding at North Carolina State University, is the recipient of the 2005 Cotton Genetics Research Award.
And . . .
They might not farm in the garden spots of the Cotton Belt, but that’s not stopping this year’s winners of the Farm Press/Cotton Foundation High Cotton Awards from growing good crops while doing their best to protect their soil, water and wildlife.
The Tidewater area of Virginia, northeast Mississippi and the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas are not the first places most cotton people think about when you talk about prime production areas. But this year’s High Cotton winners like their land just fine, thank you.
The recipients of this year’s awards, which are sponsored by Farm Press Publications through a grant to The Cotton Foundation, will be honored at the National Cotton Council’s Beltwide Cotton Conferences in San Antonio January 4. They include Cliff Fox, Capron, Va.; Joe Bostick, Golden, Miss.; Lawrence Braswell, Raymondville, Tex.; and Wally Shropshire, Blythe, Calif.