Hall of Achievement: Honorees of the ’70s

By Beck Barnes|October 9, 2014

Dan Pustojeski

Dan Pustojeski of Hillsboro, Texas won the inaugural 1970 Cotton Production Achievement Award, presented at the time by a previous brand of our magazine, American Cotton Grower. Pustojeski was noted for his engineering ability, having built a four-row cotton stripper and wind-defying trailer bonnets to boost harvest efficiency on his farm.

John Nigliazzo

John Nigliazzo of Hearn, Texas won the 1971 Cotton Production Achievement Award by developing a practical method of producing narrow row cotton, specialized for the Brazos bottoms he farmed in Central Texas. He was a pioneer in developing early-maturing crops to cut down on insect control and irrigation input costs.

Jack Hamilton

Jack Hamilton of Lake Providence, La., won the 1972 ACG Cotton Production Achievement Award. He was selected for his progressive mindset in both production and ginning. He was described as "among those far-sighted producers who believe in modernization."

William Falls and wife Bess Falls

William Falls of Webb, Miss. won the 1973 ACG Cotton Production Achievement Award. Pictured here with his wife, Bess, Falls was noted for his innovative techniques, having produced an entire cotton crop in a double drill or broadcast pattern.

Jack Funk

Jack Funk of Harlingen, Texas won the award in 1974. He was widely known in the Rio Grande Valley for his efforts in the National Cotton Council, and for his "field handling, ginning and marketing practices which are the latest and most modern anywhere."

Owen Bibb

Owen Bibb from Tunica, Miss. won the Cotton Production Achievement Award for 1975. Despite atrocious weather and insect pressure, Bibb yielded some 200 pounds per acre higher than the county average in 1975, as neighbors admired his weed-free fields and overall neatness.

Joe Craven

Joe Craven of Lepanto, Ark. received high praise for leading the way in innovation. He was a pioneer in assisting with the study of nitrogen needs of cotton via petiole testing, and an early adopter of subsoiling techniques and the use of "recovery sprayer in Johnson grass control. He won the Achievement Award for 1976.

Duke Barr

Duke Barr of Oak Ridge, Louisiana was noted for his reduced tillage production system and use of a "triple team" method of cotton scouting. He produced a phenomenal yield average of 940 pounds of lint per acre in 1977, earning him the ACG Cotton Achievement Award that year.

Ben Bearden

Ben Bearden of Santa Rosa, Texas, was selected for the 1978 ACG Cotton Achievement Award for his skill in building and managing a highly succesful 5,000 acre South Texas farming operation out of what began as a 200 acre plot of land 30 years prior.

Marion Baskin

Marion Baskin III from Yazoo City, Miss. won the 1979 Cotton Grower Cotton Achievement Award for management skill and willingness to experiment with new practices. Baskin turned around the fortunes of a cotton farm that had a reputation for tough conditions and flagging yields.

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