Greetings,
Like many of you, we are glad the 2018 cotton season here in Georgia is finally behind us. We enjoyed interacting with you at your local UGA Extension production meetings this year and appreciate you signing up for our e-newsletter. As always, please forward this message to anyone you think would benefit from reading it and do not hesitate to contact us if we can ever be of service.
Georgia Cotton Commission
|
|
|
|
Georgia Cotton Commission Approves 2020 Research
|
At its March 27
th
Board Meeting, the Georgia Cotton Commission Board of Directors approved $656,287 in research for the 2020 crop year and also approved $25,500 in supplemental research for 2019. This money will go to fund eighteen projects that will be conducted by researchers and extension specialists from the University of Georgia and the University of West Georgia. Projects range from funding for the UGA cotton team, to research on resistant weeds, evaluating the economics of conservation production, monitoring water use efficiency, and many more. The goal of this producer-funded research is to help the cotton producer’s bottom line by conducting research that can either raise yields, promote efficiency, or open new markets.
|
|
GCC Pleased with Referendum Vote
|
Every three years, pursuant to law, cotton farmers have the opportunity to vote to continue the assessment ($1/bale) that funds the Georgia Cotton Commission’s programs of research, promotion, and education. The 2019 referendum period was February 13
th
-March 15
th
. The Georgia Department of Agriculture recently recorded the votes and the result shows 92.5% of voters favored the continuation.
|
|
|
The 2019 Georgia Cotton Commission was a huge success with another record crowd of over 675! Thanks again to our great sponsors for making the event possible.
|
|
Deltapine/Bayer Crop Science – Phytogen/Corteva Agriscience
– Stoneville/BASF
Actagro – Agri-AFC – Allenberg Cotton Company – Alltech – Americot, Inc.-NexGen Ameris Bank – Choice Cotton Company – CNI
– Cotton Growers Cooperative
Custom Ag Formulators – Farm Credit Associations of Georgia –
Flint Ag & Turf
Holder Ag Consulting
–
Indigo Ag
–
Lasseter Equipment Group
McLean Marechal Insurance/Nationwide Insurance
–
Nachurs
Nationwide Farm Insurance/Bill Hembree & Alex Smith
–
Nutrien Ag Solutions
Pinnacle Marketing
–
Rabo AgriFinance
R.W. Griffin/Coffee County Gin/Four Corners Cotton Gin – SePRO Corporation
Southeast AgNet – Southern Drawl Cotton
–
Staplcotn – Syngenta
Triangle Chemical Company – Valent USA Valley Irrigation
– Yara US
|
|
|
|
Kemerait: Blue disease, nematodes aren’t the only threat in 2019
|
Too many cotton stalks are left in the fields. Incessant rains that began last fall kept farmers
from harvest and from destroying what remains.
I told growers that December freezes had killed the remnant plants, thus depriving nematodes a food source and a newly-discovered virus a reservoir for aphid vectors. But days of unseasonably warm weather have proved me wrong and, like Lazarus, stalks are coming to life as new buds appear. At best, these ghosts from last year will be of no consequence for the 2019 cotton crop. At worst, they will feed awakening nematodes and hungry aphids that acquire a potent virus and spread it to a new crop.
|
|
2018 Georgia Quality Cotton Award Winners Announced
|
The 2018 Georgia Quality Cotton Awards were presented at the Georgia Cotton Commission’s 12th Annual Meeting and UGA Cotton Production Workshop on January 30, 2019 in Tifton, GA. The awards are co-sponsored by the Georgia Cotton Commission and BASF, and administered by the University of Georgia Cotton Team.
|
|
|
- Attended Beltwide Cotton Conferences, New Orleans, LA.
- Attended Southern Cotton Growers Annual Meeting, Hilton Head Island, SC.
- Planned and held 2019 Georgia Cotton Commission Annual Meeting, Tifton.
|
|
- Attended UGA Extension Meetings in Houston, Macon, Thomas, Decatur, Miller, Grady, Jeff Davis, Early, Calhoun, Candler, Bleckley, Wilcox, Pulaski, Dooly, Cirsp, Laurens, and Lowndes Counties.
- Sent " Cotton: The Story" educational and/or other materials to educators in Barrow, Carroll, and Long Counties.
|
|
- Sponsored and exhibited at Georgia Young Farmers Association Convention, Augusta.
- Attended National Cotton Council of America and held Georgia delegation dinner, San Antonio, TX.
- Participated in media interviews regarding lack of congressional disaster funding.
- Participated in Ag Update with Senator David Perdue.
- Attended East Georgia visit by EPA Administrator Wheeler.
- Attended Georgia Agribusiness Council Legislative Breakfast.
- Attended Georgia Farm Bureau Cotton Advisory Committee Meeting.
|
|
- Exhibited at Lassiter Advanced Technology Show, Tifton.
- Signed Disaster Assistance Letters from Georgia Department of Agriculture and Georgia Farm Bureau.
- Met with UGA CAES Crop & Soil Science Department Head.
- Attended UGA Extension Meetings in Cook, Jenkins, Screven, Bulloch, Effingham, Brooks, Berrien, Colquitt, Webster, Sumter, Lee, Pierce, Ware, Irwin, Coffee, Terrell, Worth, Appling, Turner, Wheeler, Burke, Polk, Morgan, Dodge, Tattnall, Mitchell, and Seminole Counties.
- Sent "Cotton: The Story" educational kits to educators in Minnesota.
|
|
- Attended state disaster update meeting, Tifton.
- Signed "Right to Farm" letter from Georgia Farm Bureau and Georgia Agribusiness Council.
- Attended Southern Cotton Growers DC Fly In.
- Participated in Rocky Branch Elementary School (Oconee County) Community STEM Connections Cotton Program.
- Met with UGA Cotton Team on Cotton Blue Disease.
- Spoke to Middle Georgia Sewer's Guild on Cotton & Yarn production.
- Attended UGA Irrigation/Precision Ag Workshop, Tifton.
- Participated in Irwin County Ag Awareness Day.
- Attended Advancing Georgia's Leaders in Agriculture & Forestry Graduation Program.
- Attended Advancing Georgia's Leaders in Agriculture & Forestry Board Meeting.
|
|
- Attended Crisp County Farm Day.
- Met with GCC Research Advisory Committee.
- Held Board Meeting & State Support Committee Meeting.
- Participated in Bleckley County Pre-K Life on the Farm Day.
- Participated in Jeff Davis County Farm Day.
- Submitted comments to EPA on insecticide seed treatments.
- Attended UGA Extension Meetings in Lanier, Tift, Baker, Emanuel, Toombs, and Jefferson Counties.
- Sent "Cotton: The Story" educational kits to educators in Stephens, Clinch, and Barrow Counties.
- Sent "Cotton: The Story" educational kits to educators in Massachusetts, Virginia, Tennessee, Washington, Minnesota, and California.
|
|
Georgia Cotton Commission
Board of Directors
|
|
Bart Davis
Chairman
Colquitt County
|
|
Matt Coley
Vice-Chairman
Dooly County
|
|
Lee Cromley
Bulloch County
|
|
|
Steven Meeks
Wayne County
|
|
Chris Hopkins
Toombs County
|
|
|
Gary Black
Commissioner
Georgia Department of Agriculture
|
|
Gerald Long
President
Georgia Farm Bureau
|
|
Richey Seaton
Executive Director
richey@georgiacotton.org
|
|
Martha Harris
Office Manager
martha@georgiacotton.org
|
|
Taylor Sills
Director of Public Affairs
taylor@georgiacotton.org
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
