FROM STONEVILLE® TO UZBEKISTAN: THE ORIGINS OF THE INTERNATIONAL COTTONSEED

When Fran Thurmond was growing up, she knew Stoneville, Mississippi, was a small town. But she knew the cottonseed company her grandfather George B. Walker started that leveraged the Stoneville name was anything but small. “I remember when they started selling the seed, it said Stoneville U.S.A., not just Stoneville, Mississippi,” Thurmond said. “It was known worldwide.”
That worldwide attention came because of an unmatched commitment to and reputation for seed quality and service.

It began in 1922 when Walker and his partners launched Stoneville Pedigreed Seed Company^® as a seed supplier for farmers in the Mississippi Delta area. Walker had been a superintendent of the Delta Branch Experiment Station in Stoneville, where the first scientific breeding work in the area began. The mission of the new organization: To identify and increase high-performing seed varieties; to do practical, scientific breeding in the production of new and better varieties; and to sell good seed in quantity and at fair prices.

Throughout the years, Stoneville has focused on being a leader in the cotton and agricultural industry. This has included the introduction of the world’s first biotech cottonseed, the acquisition of key cotton germplasm and the overall creation of stronger, better, high-yielding cotton varieties. And while the company has changed hands many times since Walker first started it – with ownership by Calgene, Emergent Genetics, Monsanto, Bayer CropScience and now BASF – much of Stoneville’s success can be attributed to its historic beginnings.

Thurmond said her father viewed the businesses as a family affair steeped in tradition and relationships, combined with an eye for evolution and scientific advancement. “My dad got a Ph.D. in genetics and was planning on doing the plant breeding, but ended up focusing more on dealing the cottonseed and the international reach of the business,” Thurmond said. The international reach continued with the family for generations.

Thurmond’s brother, George Walker, was approached by the state department several years ago to visit Uzbekistan, a Central Asian nation, and assist people there in starting up cotton in the country. After George passed away, Thurmond said his son Martin picked up the reigns both in Uzbekistan and on the family farm.

“My brother George worked in the irrigations fields as a kid, so he really knew and understood the land and took over the farming,” Thurmond said. “His youngest son, Martin, farms the land now, which is still in the family today.”