Southeast Cotton Producers to See Texas Operations during P.I.E. Tour

Twelve Southeastern cotton producers from the Southeast will see cotton and other agriculture-related operations in Texas August 17-21 as part of the 2014 National Cotton Council’s Producer Information Exchange (P.I.E.).

Sponsored by Bayer CropScience through a grant to The Cotton Foundation, the P.I.E. program is in its 25th year of helping its U.S. producer participants improve yields and fiber quality.

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The program is designed to help cotton producers boost their overall operation’s efficiency by gaining new perspectives in such fundamental practices as land preparation, planting, fertilization, pest control, irrigation and harvesting; and observing the unique ways in which their innovative peers in other regions of the country are using current technology.

Participating in the tour to Texas are Rich Lindsey, Jr., and Brandon Young, both of Centre, AL; Jason Cox, Pelham, GA; Russ Williams, Leary, GA, Austin Warbington, Pinehurst, GA; William Dunlow, Roanoke Rapids, NC; Mark Grant, Garysburg, NC; Dean Hutton, Holly Hill, SC; Stewart Perrow, St. Matthews, SC; Lee Rogers, Bishopville, SC; Wyatt Cox, Waverly, VA; and William Kirven, IV, Darlington, VA.

The Southwest tour will begin with two days in the Lubbock area. During that time, the group will tour Bayer CropScience’s research facility; hear presentations on Texas cotton production and the Texas Cotton Improvement Program at the Plains Cotton Growers Association office; visit PYCO Industries, Farmers Cooperative Compress, Back to Nature Inc. and Caprock Winery; tour Vardeman Farms in Slaton and Mimms Farm in Acuff; and learn about electronic marketing at Plains Cotton Cooperative Association.

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The balance of the tour will be spent in the state’s Coastal Bend area. In Corpus Christi, they will visit Stover Equipment Company, Gulf Compress, Port of Corpus Christi, Gatefront, LLC, the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service’s cotton classing facility and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Fish Hatchery. In Kingsville, the group will get an update on the South Texas Boll Weevil Program. They also will see the Edcot Gin Coop in Odem, the Gregory Gin in Gregory and tour individual farms in the Coastal Bend area.

In this season’s other P.I.E. tours, Mid-South producers saw operations in California’s San Joaquin Valley in mid-July, Southwestern growers visited the Mid-South in late July, and Southwest producers traveled to North Carolina and Virginia in early August.

 

 

Source – National Cotton Council

 

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