GINNING MARKETPLACE

from Cotton Farming July 2020

MCKNIGHT AND PIERALISI

COTTON Ginners Marketplace

COTTON FARMING IS THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE GINNING INDUSTRY.

Ginning In The Age Of COVID-19

As I write this, the coronavirus numbers are just as confusing as they were when this whole thing started. No one knows exactly what is going on and how this odd disease seems to work and/or a ect individuals.

What we do know is that few people have any natural or acquired immunity. We also know it can a ect di erent people in totally di erent ways. One person may just have cold-like symptoms, a friend may end up in the hospital and another may have hardly any symptoms at all.

What does this have to do with ginning? Nothing and everything at the same time. Long gone are the days when gins could count on local labor to fill a crew. Local folks just don’t want to do deal with moving to two shifts, working long hours or having a seven-day work week anymore.

Migrant Labor Considerations

Consequently, gins have transitioned to using migrant labor. This refers to labor that doesn’t live locally and travels to where the work is. Often, it comprises a group of people who move with the gin season as it progresses and, just as often, most of them are related to each other.

As we’ve moved to hiring migrant workers, housing has become an issue. Some gins provide accommodations, some help arrange lodging and some don’t worry about it as the crew members themselves find a place to live while they are here. Since it’s typically a bunch of guys who are related or friends, they don’t mind sleeping in what most of us would consider tight quarters.

With the virus’s ability to spread faster than the common cold or flu, close working conditions, transportation and living arrangements have led to outbreaks in places in similar situations as gins. They haven’t been widespread but can be tough on the employees and the employer. Preparation is key.

Coronavirus In The Workplace

In di erent geographies, we are several weeks or months away from ginning season. Now is the time to be thinking about how to prevent community spread of the disease among your workers and what you need to do if it begins to move through your employees. If an outbreak is bad enough, you will lose productivity and may have to shut down or go to one shift. How are you going to handle medical attention for the employees?

If the spread of the coronavirus is tied to work practices or things the employer could have done to prevent it or slow it down, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is

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Regardless of your project scope, now is the time to contact Lummus to discuss your goals and needs.

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considering it work related. Most workers’ compensation programs (with some exceptions) are not covering the treatment as a work illness. Prepare now to keep this disease out of your gin.

This is when I say, “Check with your local ginners’ association for more details and guidance.” It sounds cliché, but the way this particular situation is changing, new guidance and understanding comes out every day. Don’t wait until the last minute.

Look to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and OSHA guidance for agriculture TODAY. Make it a priority to keep the coronavirus out of your gin. If it does show up, you need to have a plan in place to keep it from spreading.

Dusty Findley, CEO of the Southeastern Cotton Ginners Association, contributed this article. Contact him at 706-344-1212 or dusty@southern-southeastern.org.

TCGA Interns In Place

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced businesses to make difficult decisions, and many summer internship programs were canceled. Fortunately, that was not the case for the Texas Cotton Ginners’ Association. Texas Cotton Ginners’ Trust will also host an intern this summer. In a late development, we were able to hire a student from South Plains College and place him with a member gin. These young people will get to experience the cotton ginning industry, and we look forward to having them on board. Please take a moment to meet the TCGA summer interns.

Amos Emanis - Texas A&M University

Emanis is from Katy, Texas, and will complete a degree in biological & agricultural engineering (BAEN) in May 2021. He has worked in the BAEN laboratory and machine shop for Dr. Robert Hardin. One of his projects was to complete the design for the RFID module tag reader.

Emanis also worked with Kalin Clark — a 2019 TCGA intern — on a Capstone research project designed to remove plastic contaminates at the module feeder. He participated in two gin-related projects in the BAEN department, making him an ideal fit for the internship. Emanis will intern at United Ag Co-op Inc. in El Campo.

ARVANA GIN COMPANY

Contact Information: Tracy Birkelbach Arvana Gin Co. T: 806.497.6316 C: 806.543.4384

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Oscar Barajas - South Plains College

Barajas is from Denver City in West Texas and currently resides in Lubbock, where he attends South Plains College. During his first year in school, Barajas learned about electric circuits, including how to build them. He also has several years of background in the automotive field. Barajas enjoys working on cars and is anxious to begin his summer internship. He will be at United Cotton Growers Cooperative in Levelland. Brajas is our first intern from South Plains College. We hope to groom interns from this institution for gin superintendent positions.

Zach Stovall - Texas A&M University

Stovall is from Dumas, Texas, and is focusing on a degree in agricultural systems management. He has a couple years of college left, so we are catching him early. Stovall will intern with Texas Cotton Ginners’ Trust. He grew up in the cotton industry and is the son of Leighton Stovall, manager of Moore County Gin in Dumas. The young Texan interned with Lummus Corp. last summer where he was involved in building the newest gin in Texas — Lonestar Gin in Pampa. He brings an abundance of gin knowledge to the TCGT internship and looks forward to learning about an additional segment of the cotton industry.

TCGA has the privilege of interviewing many well-qualified college students for the internship. We love giving young people a chance to see if cotton ginning is a career they may want to pursue and showcase their value to potential employers. Hopefully, all of the interns will gain valuable “real-world experience” and get ready to take the next step in their careers.

We look forward to hearing from them. Stay tuned to TCGA’s monthly newsletter and follow us on Facebook. Search for Texas Cotton Ginners’ Association and be sure to like our page!

TCGA provided this article.

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Behind The Scenes With ‘Mr. No-Till’

My association with ing cotton without tillage. Many of the UT researchers cotton began when believed that no-till was the answer to West Tennessee I was born wearing soil erosion problems. 100% cotton cloth Cotton fields in this area were the most erosive in the diapers and duck head safety country, losing an average of more than 14 tons of soil pins. Cotton production has per acre per year. Some fields were losing more than 80 been one of my passions in life. tons per year. Due to the introduction of no-till cotton In my early years, my father practices and systems, soil erosion is now less than 3 was an Extension agent in West tons per acre per year. Tennessee leads the nation in Tennessee, and I tagged along percentage of cotton acres no-tilled annually — 75-plus

John to a lot of cotton farm visits. When I was home, I “farmed” percent. Every July for the past 37 years, my adrenaline still

Bradley with my red Farmall peddle tractor in the big sand box. gets flowing remembering how hard we used to work getting ready for the annual Milan No-Till Day. At its My favorite place to go was peak, this national and internationally known onemy maternal grandparent’s diversified farm in Hardin day premiere no-till event was attended by more than County, Tennessee. They raised cotton, and I, like many 12,000 farmers from many states and foreign countries. kids in the ’50s, picked cotton with a large flour sack. No-till cotton was always a major focus and interest. This is when I knew I would somehow be involved This year, the Milan No-Till Field Day will be virtual, with agriculture for life. My family moved to the farm “I’ve been met with a lot of https://milannotill.tennes see.edu/. in 1959 to produce cotton, corn, hay, hogs and cattle, plus raise five children. crossed arms and shaking heads but was never discouraged.” In 1997, I had the opportunity to work with Monsanto as their conser

We grew cotton every vation-tillage specialist to year during a time when herbicides, such as Treflan, introduce no-till and conservation-tillage cotton across Ansar X and Karmex, were being introduced. I was so the entire Cotton Belt. Much of this was accomplished proud we were replacing our hoes with chemical weed by setting up Centers of Excellence. I have also been control. My father also sold D&PL cottonseed all over privileged to work with cotton production in several forWest Tennessee. Chemical and seed sales were mostly eign countries. No-till cotton is a hard sell! Cotton prodirect to the numerous cotton gins in every community ducers are very conservative and reluctant to embrace and crossroads. I traveled with him at least one week tillage change. I’ve been met with a lot of crossed arms in the summer to visit his dealers and learn about and shaking heads but was never discouraged. I believe much larger cotton operations. This began my lifelong in its benefits. networking in the industry. Our last year of growing Cotton has always been my favorite crop because it cotton was around 1973 when we sprayed 13 times for responds to careful management and often rewards boll weevil. with high yields. I have been blessed to have agri

Fast forward through my military and college years, culture careers that have allowed me to be closely and I’m in Lake County, Tennessee, as an Extension associated with the cotton industry and work with its agent working with conventional-till and no-till cotton. wonderful people. I thank God every day for my life in Lake County is a small Delta county in the upper most agriculture. northwestern corner of the state. Several farmers and I — John Bradley were trying to demonstrate double-crop cotton following Lutts, Tennessee wheat, inter-seeding cotton and cotton planted into cotjohnbradley@springvalley.farm ton stubble. This was when Tom McCutchen, director of the University of Tennessee Milan Experiment Station, was beginning no-till cotton research. Mr. McCutchen died in 1983, and I had the opportunity to follow in his footsteps. Again, my passion for cotton arose, and I worked with a team of researchers to develop systems for growEditor’s note: John and Debra Bradley currently own and operate Spring Valley Farms, an 1,100-acre beef cattle farm in Hardin and Wayne counties, Tennessee. They market beef at www.springvalley.farm to restaurants and schools and sell direct to customers.

Cotton Farming’s back page is devoted to telling unusual “farm tales” or timely stories from across the Cotton Belt. Now it’s your turn. If you’ve got an interesting story to tell, send a short summary to csmith@onegrower.com. We look forward to hearing from you.