TCGA SPECIAL REPORT

Message From Tony Williams

It is my pleasure to welcome all of you to our 103rd Annual Meeting and Cotton Trade Show of the Texas Cotton Ginners’ Association. The officers, executive committee, board of directors and staff hope you enjoy the show. Please let us know if there is anything we can do for you while you are attending our event.

The theme for this year’s show is “Ginning for Success in a New Decade.” We chose this theme to reflect on the beginning of a new decade and the optimism of the coming crop year and  eventual ginning season. Although the economy remains sluggish, there are signs that things are beginning to improve with consumer demand for textiles, which means more demand for our raw cotton.

This year shows promise of a better cotton price, at least one that is more competitive in relation to grain prices, and hopefully this will mean more acres of cotton. But, more importantly, many areas of Texas have received good moisture and are in decent shape to produce a significant crop, but we always have to remember it cannot be counted until it is ginned and baled.

As we reflect over the past decade, the first of a new millennium, we can provide numerous positive and negative stories. Record crops in 2004, 2005 and 2007 show we can produce a lot of cotton with fewer acres. And, how about the outstanding quality of cotton we now produce in Texas? But, now we must depend upon foreign textile mills to purchase most all of our cotton, as we saw the demise of our best customer, the U.S. textile manufacturer.

Also, how is it we seem to get blamed for all the world cotton market problems by the WTO? As we look to the future, we must keep success in the forefront of what we hope to achieve. While that can be many different things, I think the overall measure of success for the Texas and U.S. cotton industry in the next decade will be if we can maintain the size of our industry.

For us to compete with developing countries who have a much lower labor cost, we will have to rely on our technological superiority. Our technological advantage and superior infrastructure must be maintained if we are to continue as a major producer of raw cotton. We must make further advancements with technology in order to compete in a global market. As challenging as this may be, I have confidence in this industry to meet such a challenge.

This show provides you the opportunity to see the latest technology and services to help you operate as efficiently as possible. Please take the time to visit all exhibitors and see what they have to offer you as a ginner. Our exhibitors have significant expense and time invested in our show. Be sure and thank them for supporting our event and the Association.

Welcome to Lubbock.