Editor’s Note
Cotton Farming
Carroll Smith
EDITORIAL/PRODUCTION Editor Carroll Smith csmith@onegrower.com Managing Editor Vicky Boyd vlboyd@onegrower.com
I
Goodbye To The Grinch
f I had to put a face on the pandemic, it would be a big, green, ugly Grinch with a furrowed brow and villainous eyes. Two years ago, it sneaked into the lives of people around the world and took away so many things we hold dear to our hearts — even those of the mundane everyday kind. It caught us off guard. Our first reaction was to retreat and contemplate what had happened. As the days and months went by, we found ways to adapt in our personal and business lives. It was awkward, but it was doable. Then we began to realize the one thing the greedy Grinch couldn’t get his hands on was the resilience of the human spirit. “Necessity is the mother of invention” moved up in status from “old cliché” to a motivating force with which to be reckoned. It comes as no surprise that the concept aptly describes the agricultural world. This community of innovators is always up for a challenge. Examples of their creative spirit are sprinkled throughout this issue of Cotton Farming. As Missouri cotton farmer Allen Below told me during our interview, “A farmer and a ginner can always come up with some kind of contraption!” This year, he bought a new John Deere CP770 harvester and was running it through his fields for the first time. In “Pickin’ And Ginnin’” on page 12, Below and his picker operator, Josh Morgan, discuss different aspects of the newly designed machine. But being a ginner as well as a farmer, Below has already turned his thoughts to how the bigger, denser round bales can be transported and then handled efficiently at the gin. He is formulating ideas to make sure everything goes smoothly once the cotton leaves the field. Although Below was contemplating mechanical situations, the same holds true to developing solutions for something intangible. For example, the Grinchiness of the pandemic is still evident in agricultural supply chain issues. On page 9, Gary Adams, National Cotton Council president and CEO, talks about the organization’s efforts to find “remedies to an economically debilitating supply chain situation.” The NCC’s recommendations to the Biden administration are not just vague ramblings, they contain specific ideas to bring relief. I challenge you as members of the agricultural community to keep fighting the good fight to overcome the hopefully temporary adversity we are facing. As we are about to embark on a new year, it’s time to say goodbye to the Grinch.
Carroll
Southeast Editor Amanda Huber ahuber@onegrower.com Art Director Ashley Kumpe ADMINISTRATION Publisher/Vice President Lia Guthrie (901) 497-3689 lguthrie@onegrower.com Associate Publisher Carroll Smith (901) 326-4443 Sales Manager Scott Emerson (386) 462-1532 semerson@onegrower.com Production Manager David Boyd dboyd@onegrower.com Audience Services Kate Thomas (847) 559-7514 For subscription changes or change of address, call (847) 559-7578 or email cottonfarming@omeda.com EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD David Burns – North Carolina David Lynch – South Carolina Bob McLendon – Georgia Larkin Martin – Alabama Mike Sturdivant Jr. – Mississippi Charles Parker – Missouri Jimmy Hargett – Tennessee Allen Helms – Arkansas Jay Hardwick – Louisiana Ronnie Hopper – Texas Ron Rayner – Arizona John Pucheu – California
ONE GROWER PUBLISHING, LLC Mike Lamensdorf President/Treasurer Lia Guthrie Publisher/Vice President ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COOPERATION: Cooperating with COTTON FARMING are various cotton producer organizations across the Cotton Belt. Many representatives of producer organizations serve on COTTON FARMING’s editorial advisory board. Opinions expressed and conclusions reached by contributors are not necessarily those of the cooperating organizations or the editors. All statements, including product claims, are those of the person or organization making the statement or claim. The publisher does not adopt any such statement or claims as its own and any such statement or claim does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the publisher. Copyright 2021 © ASSOCIATED PUBLICATIONS – One Grower Publishing, LLC also publishes RICE FARMING, THE PEANUT GROWER, SOYBEAN SOUTH and CORN SOUTH.
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COTTON FARMING | DECEMBER 2021
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