Do you have a future in cotton? Want to have one? Then write an essay and enter this Deltapine scholarship program.
The future of the U.S. cotton industry continues to rely on new talents and fresh perspectives. To keep bright young minds involved in cotton, Monsanto is creating the Deltapine Class of 09 scholarship program. The program will award nine $1,000 college scholarships to high school students in the class of ’09 who are interested in a career in cotton.
The scholarships will be awarded to nine students whose essays best express “My Future in CottonSM.” Eligibility requirements include:
· High school seniors who will graduate in 2009 with plans to enroll in a full-time undergraduate accredited 2- or 4-year college or university with the intent to engage in a course of study related to agriculture or agribusiness.
· A minimum GPA of 2.8 on a 4.0 scale; involvement in agriculture or with agricultural organizations; and living in a cotton-producing state.
· Those applicants whose families are directly involved in cotton production will be given special consideration.
· Persons related to employees of Monsanto, its agencies or competitive companies are not eligible to participate.
To apply, go to http://www.MyFutureInCotton.com for complete eligibility and criteria requirements. Winners will be announced on Jan. 6, 2009 at the Beltwide Cotton Conferences in an Antonio, TX, and listed on the Web site Jan. 7, 2009. All winners will be notified via email prior to this date.
I only got to go out in the field for the cotton picking demonstration at Sunbelt Ag Expo but it was great. The weather was beautiful and the cotton looked awesome. I’ve got a number of pictures in the photo album.
One of the main machines involved was the new John Deere 7760 Self Propelled Cotton Picker. This bad boy will be ready for sales next year but growers can call their local dealer to get an on-farm demonstration.
I liked the American flag touch. It was waving in the nice breeze we had all day.
There were also field demonstrations with corn, soybeans, hay and peanuts.
Cotton Incorporated wants consumers not just to know, but to feel the natural attributes of cotton. That’s why the company has developed a new branding campaign, “A Natural Part of Everyday Life.” The campaign will run in approximately 85 malls throughout all 50 states.
“A Natural Part of Everyday Life” spotlights the new Natural(TM) trademark while showcasing images of people enjoying life — in fashionable cotton clothing. The campaign will change seasonally; targeting the mall consumer who according to the Lifestyle Monitor(TM), visits the mall approximately 2.9 times a month.
The campaign invites the customer to experience cotton on various levels. Activities include a four tier marketing strategy that involves traditional marketing, sweepstakes, gift-with-purchase and online components.
At last week’s Beltwide we learned about the Bayer Season. Basically, it’s about taking care of your plants during the critical first 40 days.
One of the presenters was John Smith, Bayer CropScience director of marketing. He says that the Bayer Season is a collection of products, innovation and people. They’re meant to help the cotton grower during those first weeks of the season with important issues like seed and traits as well as crop protection products.
I recorded his presentation (he does refer to some slides but you’ll get the drift of it) which you can listen to here:
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While last week’s Beltwide was going on Monsanto not only had Kara Willis doing student blogging but Stewart Doane was producing custom audio reports for their website. Called, “Daily Beltwide Cotton Conferences Audio Recap with Stewart Doan,” customers were able to find fresh news from the event each day. Great concept and a very good application for a company website don’t you think?
I asked Stewart if he was ready to start his own blog. Since he’s well known for reporting on cotton I think he could develop a real niche cotton news website and not only would growers be interested but companies like Monsanto would be willing to be sponsors. What do you think?
One of the new product development guys at John Deere in their precision area is Patrick Sikora, John Deere Ag Management Solutions Group. He was one of the guys I interviewed at last week’s Beltwide.
Patrick says that cotton growers have been some of the earliest adopters of precision farming technology but that there may be some not familiar with products like Harvest Doc Cotton.
With the Harvest Doc Cotton system, cotton producers will be able to document and map their cotton yields with the GreenStar™ system and their John Deere 9986 and 9996 cotton pickers. The Harvest Doc Cotton system enables producers to generate detailed cotton yield maps to help them make better and more informed management decisions.
Patrick suggests that growers make sure they visit StellarSupport.com for all the information they need.
Monsanto once again took their student bloggers on the road. This time to the Beltwide Cotton Conferences. The intern is Kara Willis who attends Prairie View A&M in Texas (right of Janice Person).
You can find Kara’s blog on the Monsanto website. I spoke to her after she interviewed me for her blog. Kara is an ag econ major who feels like she really needs to get out in the field with people to gain valuable experience. She’s sure doing that. She also came to a cotton conference knowing nothing about the subject. That changed over the course of the week.
I think you’ll enjoy listening to what Kara has to say about her agriblogging experience:
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It has been a year since Case IH introduced the Case IH Module Express™ 625, the only commercial cotton picker to build modules while harvesting. Growers who used this machine for the 2007 cotton harvest report that it was a sound investment.
“The Module Express allows one man to do the work of three,” says Dan Kornegay, who grows 2,500 acres of cotton in Faison, N.C. “It only takes one person to pick the cotton and build the modules with the Module Express, reducing equipment and labor costs. I’m saving about $1,000 per day by running three fewer tractors, hiring three fewer operators and eliminating the maintenance costs of extra equipment. I’m easily going to save $50,000 per year.”
The Case IH Module Express does not require modifications to existing equipment. The Case IH half modules are 8-foot by 8-foot by 16-foot, which is the same height and width of a standard module but half the length. A producer uses smaller reusable tarps to cover the modules. One person can often handle these easy-to-use tarps versus two with larger traditional modules. No alterations are required to the ginning process.
And, the Module Express picks cotton at a slightly faster pace than a traditional 6-row picker and modules form simultaneously. For more information, visit the Web site or contact your local Case IH dealer.
At last week’s Beltwide Cotton Conferences an appreciation luncheon was held for Karen Marshall, just retired Senior Director of Industry Affairs for Monsanto.
Several people spoke about their respect for Karen and her years of service to the cotton industry including Charles Parker, President of the Cotton Foundation and a cotton grower from Senath, MO. Here’s Charles giving Karen an appreciation plaque from the Foundation.
One of the New Developments From Industry sessions at Beltwide was done by Greg Stratman, BASF Technical Services Representative (left). Of course he talked about Headline.
One of the questions he says he gets most often from growers is about the yield increase they can get by treating foliar diseases. He says that when it comes to the work they’ve done with field trials they’re seeing developmental progress with cotton growers just like they’ve seen in corn and soybeans. He describes the mood of cotton growers he’s been talking to as cautiously optimistic.
The National Cotton Council and Cotton Board hosted the media with a dinner last night that was the best meal I’ve had at the Opryland Hotel so far. Most of us are leaving this morning as the Beltwide comes to an end.
I want to thank Marjory Walker and Brad Robb for all their help while here and especially for a great dinner. Thanks also to BASF and Quarry Integrated Communications for their sponsorship of my coverage of this year’s Beltwide. A lot of us will be back here in just a few weeks for Commodity Classic. At least some of us will now know our way around the maze.
AgWired coverage of the Beltwide Cotton Conferences
is made possible by:
This afternoon I had a chance to meet Dr. Mark Lange, President and CEO of the National Cotton Council. This is him speaking at a lunch earlier today.
I actually interviewed him along with Don Molino, Louisiana Agri-News Network and Keith Merckx, Texas State Networks. Of course Don had to ask Mark about the WTO so we got him on a roll.
He says that with cotton acreage down and looking like it will continue to decline this year one of the challenges in the industry is farm management. Many cotton producers are also growing or looking at growing other commodities like wheat and therefore there’s a need to help them deal with a diverse crop. He wouldn’t really make a prediction about acreage decline but said he wouldn’t be surprised to see it be 10 to 12% this year.
The Marketing Manager for Headline for BASF is Jerry Minore (right). He was working the booth this morning and from the sound of it the traffic has been heavy with growers wanting to know about this new fungicide tool.
I know I’ve posted several interviews about Headline but in this one I got Jerry to talk a little bit about the history of the product. For example, he says that they introduced it in 2003 for use on wheat, potatoes, peanuts, sugar beets and citrus. Then in 2005 it got registration for corn and soybeans. Then late last fall for cotton.
One of the participants in our media round table on sustainability was Berrye Worsham, President & CEO of Cotton Incorporated. Thanks to my good friend Brad Robb I was able to interview Barrye today.
He says that one of the key challenges for marketing cotton today is that word, sustainability, especially from an environmental standpoint. For one thing he says that cotton has had a negative image in this area due to some very outdated and mis-information. So one of the things they’re doing is working to overcome that hurdle.
Another participant in the session was Peter McGrath with J.C. Penney Company. He told us that this is not a fad that will go away soon. So Barrye says that it’s important to know what retailers want since they’re being proactive in making sure that the products they sell adhere to good environmental practices. He says that it’s not that consumers are demanding it but that they assume that companies are acting responsibly.
Some of the ways Cotton, Inc. is communicating it’s message includes surveying farmers for data that can be used to support claims of environmental responsibility and the conducting of one on one meetings with manufacturers and retailers, re-designing their website and doing some industry advertising.
The Beltwide poster board session is open for viewing.
I’ve got to say that I’ve never really understood the value of posters. However, they’re still very much in use and by many organizations. I guess it just seems to me that there are other ways to accomplish the purpose in terms of information transfer.
However, if I was to do a poster I’d use the KISS principle (Keep It Simple Stupid). Sometimes they get so crammed with information that they’re like some billboards you see. They’re there but you don’t have time to read them.
AgWired coverage of the Beltwide Cotton Conferences
is made possible by:
The Manager of Cotton Agronomy, Soils and Physiology for the National Cotton Council is Bill Robertson. He’s been with the Council for about a year. Coordinating the Beltwide is one of his duties.
He says that he’s also working on reviving the Cotton Physiology Education Program and that one of the key components of that is the Cotton Physiology Today newsletter. I asked him if he’d thought about blogging on the subject. Just an idea. Gotta keep planting the seeds.
Anyway, we did an interview a little while ago so you can learn more about what the Council is doing in terms of education opportunities for growers.
One of the exhibitors here at the Beltwide Cotton Conferences is John Deere for whom we manage their Precision Pays website. So it was a great opportunity to find out about what they’ve got new for cotton producers. I spoke with Jamie Flood, Product Marketing Manager, just as the trade show was kicking off.
Of course John Deere has their new self-propelled cotton picker which was announced at their product launch last fall. Jamie explains how that machine fits into a precision management plan. He also says that the equipment is meant to simplify a producer’s operation and that he’s heard very positive and good interest from growers who are looking at it.
I sat in on the Cotton Board’s media roundtable this afternoon but couldn’t stay to interview the participants. However, it was fascinating.
The topic was “How Sustainability is Impacting Every Stop in Cotton’s Pipeline.” Doesn’t sound particularly exciting but one of the speakers was Peter McGrath, EVP of J.C. Penney Company. It was an eye opener to hear him talk about how the company is proactively taking becoming green very seriously. They’re such a huge retailer that they are dictating how their suppliers do their business. For example, he says they tell manufacturers of cotton shirts what kind of dyes they’re allowed to use. He even said that they’re working to enforce water quality laws. That’s what I thought government did.
It was very interesting. I’m still hoping to get an interview sometime if possible. I think it’s something growers need to hear and know. By the way, Peter sits on the Cotton Board.
AgWired coverage of the Beltwide Cotton Conferences
is made possible by:
The Tour is really a virtual tour they’re doing with a website that includes a blog! In my interview Ben talks about what the organization does and this project.
It seems like Headline has made headlines for BASF and that’s brought in a lot of growers to their booth here at the Beltwide trade show.
This isn’t all of the crew here but most of them right before the show got started today. I did a couple interviews in their booth including the following one with Tom McKemie, BASF eastern area representative. In it he talks about some of the field trials that have been done over the last couple of years.
Do you have a future in cotton? Want to have one? Then write an essay and enter this Deltapine scholarship program.
I only got to go out in the field for the cotton picking demonstration at Sunbelt Ag Expo but it was great. The weather was beautiful and the cotton looked awesome. I’ve got a number of pictures in the photo album.
At last week’s Beltwide we learned about the 
While last week’s Beltwide was going on Monsanto not only had Kara Willis doing student blogging but Stewart Doane was producing custom audio reports for their website. Called, 
One of the new product development guys at John Deere in their precision area is Patrick Sikora, 
Monsanto once again took their student bloggers on the road. This time to the Beltwide Cotton Conferences. The intern is Kara Willis who attends Prairie View A&M in Texas (right of Janice Person).
It has been a year since 
At last week’s Beltwide Cotton Conferences an appreciation luncheon was held for Karen Marshall, just retired Senior Director of Industry Affairs for Monsanto.
One of the New Developments From Industry sessions at Beltwide was done by Greg Stratman, BASF Technical Services Representative (left). Of course he talked about Headline.
The 
This afternoon I had a chance to meet Dr. Mark Lange, President and CEO of the 
The Marketing Manager for Headline for BASF is Jerry Minore (right). He was working the booth this morning and from the sound of it the traffic has been heavy with growers wanting to know about this new fungicide tool.
One of the participants in our media round table on sustainability was Berrye Worsham, President & CEO of 
The Beltwide poster board session is open for viewing.
The Manager of Cotton Agronomy, Soils and Physiology for the National Cotton Council is Bill Robertson. He’s been with the Council for about a year. Coordinating the Beltwide is one of his duties.
I sat in on the Cotton Board’s media roundtable this afternoon but couldn’t stay to interview the participants. However, it was fascinating. 
Ben Morgan is the Executive Vice President of the 
It seems like Headline has made headlines for BASF and that’s brought in a lot of growers to their booth here at the Beltwide trade show.
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