Beltwide Showcases Solutions for Cotton Production
November 28, 2016 From Cotton Grower Magazine – December 2016
When the 2017 Beltwide Cotton Conferences (BWCC) convene in Dallas, TX, in early January, attendees will be keen to put 2016 behind them and focus on information and solutions to help with the 2017 crop year.
The 2017 BWCC will be held at the Hyatt Regency Dallas January 4-6. The meeting, which is coordinated annually by the National Cotton Council (NCC), brings together audiences with a stake in a healthy U.S. cotton industry, such as researchers, consultants, growers, Extension personnel and others.
One of the scheduled presentations set for the meeting-opening Cotton Consultants Conference on January 4 is already drawing attention. The session “Target Spot and Bacterial Blight” will – as University of Georgia Extension Pathologist Bob Kemerait puts it – focus on current science, as well as a good bit of the unknown.
“This is a whole new ballgame, because it is a collision of the science, the lack of information we have and a great level of concern among growers, consultants, agents, seed companies and others,” he explains. “We have two foliar diseases that have been more widespread recently than they have been in the past, and growers don’t feel like they have a good handle on management options.”
For the past nine years, cotton growers in the Southeast have been aware of target spot, while their Mid-South counterparts have been battling bacterial blight for some time. Over the past two years, both diseases have become more prevalent in each region, bringing more questions and setting off higher levels of concern among growers trying to protect a razor-thin bottom line.
“There is no silver bullet for either of these diseases,” says Kemerait. “And, when you also consider that some varieties are more susceptible to target spot than others or the impact of seed transmission of bacterial blight, it becomes a very, very important discussion.
“I’ve very happy to have the opportunity to present the information we have in an open forum and hopefully allay some fears and focus on what really needs to be addressed.”
In addition to the disease discussion, the Cotton Consultants Conference will also feature an update on the status of educational efforts for the use of auxin herbicides on transgenic cotton by Dow AgroSciences and Monsanto; a presentation on the Smartirrigation Cotton App, a unique irrigation scheduling tool now available across the Cotton Belt; and the New Developments from Industry session that includes reports on new varieties, chemistries, equipment and other emerging technologies.
The BWCC cotton technical conferences for topics such as insect management, weed control, marketing, agronomy, cotton physiology and ginning will meet concurrently on January 5-6 for presentations on research findings and technologies.
Registration for the 2017 BWCC – including hotel information and reservations, plus the program agenda – can be found online at Cotton.org/Beltwide/.
Registration costs (before December 16) are $200 for NCC/Cotton Foundation members, university and USDA researchers, Extension personnel, associations and consultants; $400 for non-NCC/Foundation members; and $80 for students.
On-site conference self-registration kiosks will be available 24 days a day beginning on the evening of January 3. Starting the morning of January 4, NCC staff will also be on duty to help attendees with registration and name badges.
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