Ginners Marketplace April 2023

Ginners Marketplace

National Cotton Ginners Association Announces Award Winners

Curtis Stewart, a long-time ginner who has provided outstanding service and leadership to the U.S. cotton industry, is the 2022 Horace Hayden National Cotton Ginner of the Year. He was recognized at the 2023 National Cotton Ginners Association’s annual meeting in Dallas, Texas.

The annual NCGA award is presented to a ginner in recognition of:

 Able, e icient, and faithful service to the ginning industry.

 Continuing those principles exemplified and practiced by Horace Hayden, a former NCGA executive secretary.

General manager of Spade Cooperative Gin in Spade, Texas, Stewart has provided dedicated service and leadership to the industry during his career through participation in multiple organizations. He served a two-year term as NCGA president and is the outgoing NCGA chairman. He is a past president of Southern Cotton Ginners, Planters Cotton Oil Mill, and Dumas Cotton Warehouse, among others. A graduate of the National Cotton Council’s Leadership Program, Stewart has served on multiple NCC committees and as a NCC director and director of its export promotions arm, Cotton Council International. He also is a past chairman of the Joint Cotton Industry Bale Packaging Committee. A Texas native, Stewart graduated from Texas A&M University in 1982 with a B.S. degree in mechanized agriculture and then worked for several regional cooperatives that included the Plains Cotton Cooperative Association, Farmers Cooperative Compress, and New Home Co-op Gin. He later earned a degree in agriculture engineering from Texas Tech while working at the U.S. Department of Agriculture South Plains Ginning Laboratory in Lubbock — where he continues to assist in various research projects.

Stewart later worked as the engineer for Chickasha Cotton Oil Co. in Casa Grande, Arizona, before becoming president of Dumas Cotton Gin in Dumas, Arkansas. He joined the Spade Cooperative Gin in 2011.

Charles C. Owens Distinguished Service Award

The NCGA also recognized Dr. Greg Holt as recipient of the NCGA’s 2022-23 Charles C. Owen Distinguished Service Award. That award honors those who have provided a career of distinguished service to the U.S. ginning industry. Holt, research leader at USDA’s South Plains Ginning Lab-

oratory in Lubbock, received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Texas A&M University and then his Ph.D. in industrial engineering at Texas Tech while working at the ginning laboratory.

Over his 24-year career with USDA, Holt has been involved in countless research projects that added to the U.S. ginning industry’s success. Among those studies were post-harvest processing of seed cotton, cottonseed, and cotton gin by-products such as hydro-mulch and fuel pellets.

Holt also was involved in development of the Power Roll Gin stand design, generation of new particulate matter emissions data that has been used to improve the permitting process for gins, and the successful design and testing of an improved mechanical delinter that e iciently removes residual lint from ginned seed. More recently, his work has focused on designing detection and removal systems for removing costly plastic contaminants from seed cotton.

Gene Seale To Lead National Cotton Ginners Association

The Memphis-based National Cotton Ginners Association named its leaders for 2023 during its recent annual meeting in Dallas, Texas.

The NCGA’s 2023 o icers are: president — Gene Seale, Pima, Arizona; first vice president — Richard Lindsey, Centre, Alabama; second vice president — Larry Black, Roscoe, Texas; and third vice president, Brad Williams of Burlison, Tennessee. George LaCour of Morganza, Louisiana, who served as NCGA president in 2022, will serve as NCGA chairman. Harrison Ashley, Cordova, Tennessee, is NCGA’s executive vice president.

Seale, who currently is the general manager of the Glenbar Gin in Pima, has been active in the Arizona Cotton Ginners Association and served as its president from 2018-2022. He has served on numerous NCGA committees and subcommittees, including chairing its Safety and Labor Committee in 2022. He

COTTON FARMING IS THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE GINNING INDUSTRY.

Dr. Greg Holt, research leader at USDA’s South Plains Ginning Laboratory in Lubbock, was recognized as the recipient of the 2022-23 Charles C. Owen Distinguished Service Award.

Curtis Stewart, Spade Cooperative Gin, was named the 2022 Horace Hayden National Cotton Ginner of the Year.

Gene Seale

also served on multiple National Cotton Council committees and as a NCC director in 2022. Originally from Safford, Arizona, he graduated from Eastern Arizona College and Northern Arizona University with a degree in business administration.

Packaging Committee Approves 2023 Cotton Bale Packaging Specifications

At its annual meeting in Memphis, the Joint Cotton Industry Bale Packaging Committee (JCIBPC) granted two requests for continued testing of packaging products.

PAC Strapping was granted approval to continue its compatibility testing of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) strap on patented p-weld friction technology systems and L.P. Brown’s light-weight cotton bale bag also was approved for continued testing for export in the West. PAC Strapping’s sixth-year PET compatibility test was granted a “JCIBPC determination” in order for bales in the test program to be deemed “deliverable” in accordance with Intercontinental Exchange Cotton No. 2 rules.

The committee, chaired by Chris Berry, a Wellman, Texas, ginner, also approved the revised 2023 Cotton Bale Packaging Specifications, which included removing all reference to Standard Density bales and discouraging use of wire tags.

Southeast Growers and Ginners Go To Washington, D.C.

Editor’s note: The following news item came from a blog in The

Gin Press, produced by the Southeastern Cotton Ginners Association, Inc.

Thirty producers and ginners from the Southeast went to Washington, D.C., to meet with most of the Congressional representation from our region. The group flew to the Capital city on Monday, Feb. 27 and had 60 meetings over the next day and a half on the Hill.

This is an annual trip held by the Southern Cotton Growers Government Relations Committee. For the past several years, the group has invited the Southeastern Cotton Ginners Executive Committee to join in the trip. This year, many of the producers were also ginners or tightly connected to the ginning community.

This is the first time the association had a chance to go on such a trip in three years. The last trip was just before Covid

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Jimmy Web and other growers and ginners discuss the Farm Bill with Sanford Bishop (D-GA).

House Ag Committee Chair Glenn “GT” Thompson and Ag Committee sta . We appreciate the Chairman’s time and his sta for meeting with us.

Ginners Marketplace

If it were not for the support of producers and ginners in the Southeast Cotton Committee (SECC) political action committee, we would not be able to get the appointments we were able to have.

If you would like more information on how to participate in SECC, please contact Susan Garrick in our o ice.

Take A Hard Look At Insurance Costs And Safety Culture At The Gin

We would like to thank those that went on the trip and the members who were able to meet with us and especially the National Cotton Council Sta on helping to facilitate the trip.

Distractions have become “routine” in our daily lives. Our phones go o , we get text messages and we’re bombarded by the never-ending news cycle. Everything seems to be trying to get our attention, and it’s easy to lose sight of what’s important. Things can sneak up on you, and those are the ones that will jump up and bite you.

shut everything down in March 2020.

With this being a Farm Bill year, it was the main topic of conversation. While nearly every special interest in the country has a lobbyist in D.C., having actual constituents a ected by the laws they write has a much bigger impact than can be explained here.

In the last year or so, we’ve seen huge increases in our costs. As I write this, we’re getting news of the highest inflation in more than a generation… maybe two.

While I’m personally seeing some of the things that increased so much ease down a bit, it’s not common for costs that have gone up this much, this fast, to come down or come down very much. We will likely have to learn to live with some of them.

Being able to hear about the actual e ect of the cost of diesel or fertilizer prices from people back home leaves a serious impression.

The Cost Of Insurance

Another topic front of mind for many on the trip was the H-2A Program and the recent 14% increase in the AEWR. The Department of Labor released some changes in the program that will make it even more cumbersome and potentially more expensive than it already is. More details are forthcoming.

One of the costs that snuck up on many gins in the past year or so is the cost of insurance. Normally, this is a once-a-year expense we get hit with.

The past renewal cycle or two have been more than a bit of sticker shock for many in the ginning industry. Your associa-

One of the biggest highlights was to be able to visit with

Cotton’s Calendar

tions have been aware of this and have brought it to the attention of our memberships. But I think many of us got distracted by the other things going on and have now been hit with the reality that it’s not getting better.

 April 13-14: American Cotton Producers, Hyatt Regency DFW, Dallas, Texas

 April 14-15: Oklahoma Cotton Council’s Annual Denim Ball, Skirvin Hilton, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

 April 19: PCCA Board & Delegate Body Meetings, Lubbock, Texas

This is a simplified explanation, but insurance companies are going to do what they need to in order to stay in business. They must make money like we do. The companies take our premium and invest it. They pay claims with it, and they expect to have some left over. If losses are low and return on investment is good, you have happy insurance companies. We get stable premiums and competition.

If they have poor investment returns and higher-than-expected cost of claims (read inflation), you have unhappy insurance companies. They may decide to pull out of the market and/or significantly increase rates. This is where we are today.

Your ginners associations and the National Cotton Ginners’ Association have been concerned about this for some time. We need healthy insurers and competition, but we really can only help one side of the insurance problem…losses. NCGA has put together a list of questions to ask yourself, so you can evaluate

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Growers and ginners meet with House Ag Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” ompson and sta .