Americot Adds Four to the Company’s Cotton Breeding Team
November 26, 2019 Laura Barham, Jody Butler, Stephen Follis and Luis Duran-Ortiz have joined the Americot cotton seed breeding team.
“Laura, Jody, Stephen and Luis will help us expand capabilities and increase our resource offering in our industry-leading breeding team,” said Dr. Lloyd McCall, Americot breeding manager. “I am extremely happy to welcome them to the Americot family.”
A native of Bonita, LA, Barham earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in agriculture, with a minor in agronomy, from Louisiana State University. She joins Americot as an associate breeder based in Hollandale, MS, supporting Mid-South customers and growers. Most recently, she worked in cotton breeding and testing for Stoneville cottonseed.
Butler joins Americot as senior testing manager, based in Albany, GA, supporting the Southeast region breeding team and working with the area’s growers and customers. Over his 20-year career, he has worked in multiple testing and breeding positions, most recently as the southeast testing manager with Bayer/BASF.
Follis, based in Lubbock, TX, joins Americot as breeding lab manager supporting the company’s western region breeding operations. He holds a B.S. in biology and MBA from Texas Tech University and has worked in cotton and agricultural-related research since 2005, most recently with Bayer Crop Science.
Duran-Ortiz is the breeding manager for Americot’s newly established breeding station in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where he will manage and operate plant breeding nurseries designed to shorten the breeding and development cycle, allowing new varieties to move to market faster. A graduate of the University of the University of Puerto Rico – Mayaguez. He has worked in research and trait introgression for corn, cotton and soybeans with Pioneer and Monsanto, and most recently worked as farm manager for Puerto Rico banana producer Agrobanana.
Americot, Inc., headquartered in Lubbock, TX, is a national leader in providing U.S. cotton growers with quality seed of localized varieties, offering high yield potential, excellent fiber quality and the technologies growers want. For more information on Americot and its NexGen brand cotton products, call 888.678.SEED (7333) or visit the Americot website.
Based on information provided by Americot
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