Thursday, March 28, 2024

Showtime In The South

By Carroll Smith, Editor

For more than six decades, a major stop along the way to a new cotton farming season is the Mid-South Farm & Gin Show. This year’s event will be held at the Cook Convention Center in Memphis, Tenn., March 3-4.

Everyone also is invited to attend the Southern Cotton Ginners Association and Foundation Annual Meetings, which begin Thursday, March 2, at 1:30 p.m. at the Peabody Hotel. A panel of cotton specialists will discuss “The State of Cotton in the Mid-South.” In addition, featured speakers include Gary Adams, president/CEO, National Cotton Council; and Kim Kitchings, Cotton Incorporated.

Tim Price, show manager and Southern Cotton Ginners Association executive vice president, says this year’s event is the largest gathering of cotton-specific products and services to date. “We added 50-plus new companies to the show, and many are tied to cotton. However, we are not just a products and services exhibit, we are also an educational exhibit.”

Friday’s Lineup
The show officially begins at 8:30 a.m., Friday, with the Ag Update Meeting. Ronnie Lee, National Cotton Council, will discuss cotton issues; Carl Brothers, Riceland Foods, will present the outlook for rice and wheat; and Joe Nicosia, Louis Dreyfus Commodities, will discuss the outlook for U.S. and world cotton. Show exhibits open at 9 a.m. both Friday and Saturday.

A special Xtend dicamba seminar starts at 10:45 a.m. Presenters include Ryan Rector, Monsanto technology development manager for dicamba; Dr. Larry Steckel, University of Tennessee row crop weed specialist; and growers with experience using XtendiMax with VaporGrip Technology. A grain marketing workshop featuring Brock & Associates will be held at 1:30 p.m. A $25 registration fee is required. To pre-register, call 800-558-3431.

More Educational Opportunities
The show resumes Saturday at 8:30 a.m. with another Ag Update Meeting, featuring Richard Brock, Brock Associates, who will present a grain market outlook and discuss challenges facing farmers in 2017.

At 11 a.m., the Ag Market Network will broadcast its March monthly cotton teleconference from the trade show floor. Participating in the cotton panel are Dr. O.A. Cleveland, economics professor emeritus, Mississippi State University; Jarral Neeper, president of Calcot; Kip Butts, senior cotton analyst Informa Economics; and Pat McClatchy, executive director of the Ag Market Network. The panel will offer marketing suggestions and take questions from the audience.
Milo Hamilton, co-founder and senior agricultural economist, Firstgrain Inc., will host a special rice marketing educational seminar at 1:30 p.m.

Show closing times are 5 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, respectively. At 9 p.m. Saturday the popular Jamboree will kick off at the Peabody Hotel grand ballroom with music by The Krackerjacks.

“I think 2017 is going to be a good year for cotton with lots of excitement and momentum building,” Price says. “We encourage everyone to make plans to attend the 65th Annual Mid-South Farm & Gin Show to get up to speed on technology, products, services and the hot educational topics critical to your farming operation.”

For more information, please visit farmandginshow.com or southerncottonginners.org.

See you in Memphis!  

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