Learn the Cotton Business from the Best in the Industry
When we think back, we all have that one teacher who stands out. The one who made a difference in our education. In the cotton industry, we have a bunch of people to learn from who stand out.
More specifically, if you want to learn the cotton industry on a global scale, the American Cotton Shippers Association (ACSA) International Cotton Institute is accepting applications for one of the premier learning opportunities in the business — its annual International Cotton Institute.
This year, classes start June 20 and run through August 2, 2024.
Now in its 30th year, this one-of-a-kind program, located at The University of Memphis, combines classroom discussion led by guest faculty members and mentors from around the industry, with field trips into the Mississippi Delta that offer students hands-on exposure to cotton production, ginning, classing, marketing, and promotion.
The Program
The six-week residential program offers an in-depth look at cotton from nearly every aspect of the business.
New for 2024 is a field trip that will illustrate how the supply chain works. Darryl Earnest, ACSA International Cotton Institute Director, explains, “We plan to take the group to Mississippi and Louisiana to see farming, ginning, warehousing, seed, merchandising, port and shipping, and spinning/manufacturing. This will allow [students] to see most of the processes within the U.S. supply chain in one short trip.”
The Institute expanded the time-frame this year from four weeks to six weeks.
“In the past, the school was set up as a six-week course and seemed to work. We wanted to explore shortening it in 2023 coming off of the hiatus through COVID to see if four weeks might work better,” Earnest says. “While the 2023 institute was a great success, some of the feedback from that class was that they would have liked to have more time to delve a little deeper in the subject matter. For the additional two weeks, we will spend a lot of that time teaching more about trading and merchandising principles and risk management.”
New This Year
“One of the premier additions this year will be the opportunity for the class to attend portions of the Universal Cotton Standards Conference taking place in Memphis,” Earnest explains. “This is the first UCS Conference in 11 years. It will be celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Universal Cotton Standards Agreement and the U.S. Cotton Standards Act, so the class will see the process of U.S. and international representatives coming together to meet and discuss any changes or revisions to the cotton standards used by more than 50 countries worldwide to grade cotton and establish market values and international trade. This will be a unique opportunity, and one that only occurs every four years at a minimum.”
Earnest says students attending portions of the Universal Cotton Standards Conference will learn how physical cotton standards are governed and how any changes to Universal standards are made and agreed on.
“They will also see how the master guides are established and how the more than 1,500 physical boxes that are constructed by the USDA each year are physically matched to the original set of standards by an advisory committee appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture along with a committee representing the international signatories to the Universal Cotton Standards Agreement,” Earnest says.
For more information and to apply to the Institute, visit ACSAcottonInstitute.org/the-institute.
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