Dr. Jonathan Wendel, Distinguished Professor at Iowa State University was announced as the 2024 Cotton Genetics Research Award recipient last week during the 2025 Beltwide Cotton Conferences in New Orleans. Wendel, who was not present to accept the award, was selected by the Joint Cotton Breeding Committee and received a plaque with a monetary award. Dr. Wendel earned his bachelor’s …
ZimmCast 740 – Outlook for U.S. Cotton
Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. ZimmComm is now entering its 21st year. Who would have thought? We officially announced our company at the 2004 National Agri-Marketing Conference. We had our first booth at the conference in 2005 which means we’ve exhibited for twenty of them! I thought you might like to hear the first audio podcast I recorded in …
Cotton Industry Facing Big Challenges
At the start of 2025, the U.S. cotton industry is facing some tough times right now, according to National Cotton Council president and CEO Gary Adams. “It’s tough from an economic standpoint for producers,” said Adams this week at the Beltwide Cotton Conferences in New Orleans. “We have seen costs that have increased substantially over the last several years. In …
Cotton Consultants Focused on Regulatory Issues
Adapting to regulations is a constant theme in the life of cotton consultants, but this year more than ever the Beltwide Cotton Consultants Conference wanted to stress how new regulations will be impacting the industry. “We set up a central theme this year of regulatory issues, primarily focused around the marriage of EPA with Fish and Wildlife with some of …
2025 Beltwide Cotton Conferences Preview
The National Cotton Council is ready to welcome all to the 2025 Beltwide Cotton Conferences next week, January 14-16, at the New Orleans Marriott, New Orleans, LA. Three days of individual reports, panel discussions, hands on workshops and seminars are designed to provide attendees with information they need to help producers make key cotton production/marketing-related decisions. Conferences coordinator Lauren Krogman …
Breeding for Fusarium Wilt Race 4 Resistance
Cotton production across the United States is under serious threat from a soil-inhabiting fungus called Fusarium oxysporum vasinfectum race 4 (FOV4), which causes Fusarium wilt. After years of fighting the fungus in California, the battle field is now in Texas and cotton breeder Dr. Jim Olvey discussed the topic at the recent Beltwide Cotton Conferences. “It’s been a great collaborative …
Beltwide Cotton Awards
Several awards were presented at the Beltwide Cotton Conferences last week. Here are two of them. Each year the University Extension Cotton Specialists select a colleague to recognize as the Beltwide Extension Cotton Specialist of the Year. Camp Hand, University of Georgia assistant professor in Crop & Soil Sciences, received this annual award for his leadership, dedication and exceptional service …
2024 Cotton Economic Outlook
One of the drawbacks of having a conference right after the holidays is that you may have some presenters end up sick. But not usually four in the same session. That’s what happened at the Economics and Marketing part of the National Cotton Conferences last week in Fort Worth, but Dale Cougot of Olam Agri, who serves as the National …
U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol Update
The Beltwide Cotton Conferences Sustainability Conference included an update on the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol by new executive director Daren Abney who assumed that position in July 2023. Abney says membership in the program continues to increase. “We work with the entire cotton supply chain so we take memberships from growers all the way up to retailers and brands,” said …
Cotton Consultants Kick Off Beltwide
The Consultants Conference kicked off three days of Beltwide Cotton Conferences Wednesday in Fort Worth, Texas. Louisiana consultant Hank Jones says the committee works to include lots of topics of interest to cotton consultants. “We try to cover a wide range of topics and certainly we want to stay current, and want to address topics that are going to provide …