Western Cotton Producers to See Diversity of Texas Cotton Industry
July 25, 2013 Nine cotton producers from Arizona and California will see cotton and other agriculture-related operations in Texas August 5-8 in the final segment of the 2013 National Cotton Council’s Producer Information Exchange (P.I.E.) program.
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.
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.
Upon completion of this year’s tours, the P.I.E. program will have exposed more than 1,050 U.S. cotton producers to innovative production practices in regions other than their own.
Participating in the Texas visit are cotton producers Don England, Jr. and Jonathan Cockrill, both from Casa Grande, AZ; Phillip Garcia, Eloy, AZ; Kelci Morrow, Coolidge, AZ; Jake and Aric Barcellos, both from Los Banos, CA; Tim Gomes, Gustine, CA; Adam Mendes, Fresno, CA; and Matthew Watte, Tulare, CA.
The Southwest tour will begin at the offices of Plains Cotton Growers in Lubbock, TX for updates on Texas cotton production, Texas A&M University’s Texas Cotton Improvement Program and Bayer CropScience’s research and development programs. The group’s two-day stay in Lubbock will also include visits with PYCO Industries, Farmers Cooperative Compress, Plains Cotton Cooperative Association and nearby cotton operations in Slaton and Acuff. They will also tour the Lubbock Feedlot and the Back to Earth Resources for a look at turning gin trash into a value-added product.
The next two days will be spent in the state’s Coastal Bend area and will include visits to Stover Equipment Company, the Gulf Compress, the Port of Corpus Christi and Gatefront, LLC. The group will also tour ginning operations in Odem and Gregory, plus individual farming operations in the area.
The tour concludes with a visit to King Ranch and Farms in Kingsville and a look at several research projects being conducted by Texas AgriLife Extension in Corpus Christi.
So far this season, Mid-South producers observed operations in South Georgia in late June, Southeastern growers visited Louisiana and Mississippi in mid-July, and Southwest producers visited California’s San Joaquin Valley in late July.
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