Program Expands to Entomology
August 20, 2009 The Cotton Incorporated Fellow’s (CIF) Program has been very successful in attracting, training and placing young scientists in cotton breeding related research positions. Because of that success, we are expanding the CIF Program to another important area of cotton research ― entomology.
I am very pleased to announce the newest Cotton Incorporated Fellow ― Jarrod T. Hardke. Jarrod is currently a candidate for his Doctor of Philosophy degree in the Department of Entomology at Louisiana State University. He is studying cotton insect pest management under the direction of Dr. B. Rogers Leonard, Professor of Entomology and J. Hamilton, Regents Chair in Cotton Production, with the LSU AgCenter.
Jarrod’s dissertation research topic is related to management strategies for controlling the fall armyworm. He will be evaluating the efficacy of Bt cotton as well as conventional insecticides against the fall armyworm, while describing the symptoms of fall armyworm injury on both Bt and conventional varieties.
His work will become increasingly important as our industry nears elimination of single-gene Bt cotton and converts all Bt cotton acreage to multiple-gene technologies. Jarrod holds a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree with majors in Crop and Pest Management from the University of Arkansas. We welcome Jarrod to Cotton Incorporated.
FS MILLNET Advances in China
Over the past three years, Cotton Incorporated has provided an accelerated educational and training program teaching the advantages of using HVI data and the EFS MILLNet system for customers of U.S. cotton in mainland China.
Chinese mills had not been using HVI data to process cotton and suffered greatly from quality problems due to poor control of fiber properties used at the opening line. Cotton Incorporated targeted key companies in mainland China to educate their buyers and technicians on how to improve their cotton quality by using the EFS MILLNet software. In order to be an EFS MILLNet licensee, a mill must increase their use percentage of U.S. cotton.
As a result of the training program seven companies are now MILLNet licensees in mainland China. Included in this group is Weiqiao, one of the largest spinners in the world. Weiqiao, on average, consumes over 3.5 million bales of cotton yearly.
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