The National Cotton Council urges cotton producers and others to take advantage of the virtual 2021 Beltwide Cotton Conferences’ wealth of information that can help make key production/marketing-related decisions for the upcoming growing season.
■ What’s the participation incentive?
Convenience is the primary incentive as the 2021 Beltwide Cotton Conferences will offer live-streamed individual reports, panel discussions, and poster presentations from the half-day Cotton Consultants Conference and the 11 cotton technical sessions.
From any device screen, participants conveniently can access new product information and results from production-processing trials and other research that can be tailored to improve and maximize individual farming operations.
Those planning to participate in the Jan. 5-7 virtual event must register at the BWCC’s website,
www.cotton.org/beltwide — with conference access details to be emailed to registrants closer to January.
Registration fees for the 2021 BWCC have been reduced: $180 for NCC/Cotton Foundation members, university and USDA researchers, Extension personnel, associations and consultants; $500 for non-U.S. research, Extension, associations, and consultants; $350 for non-NCC/Foundation members; and $75 for students. Registration will remain open after the conference for on-demand access of all recorded content.
The 2021 BWCC final program will be posted on Dec. 3 at www.cotton.org/beltwide. The forum will begin at 8 a.m., Jan. 5, with the half-day Cotton Consultants Conference that is open to all registered participants. Topics planned for that session range from weather models’ influence on cotton physiology decisions to updates on dicamba availability and cotton leafroll dwarf virus control.
The 11 BWCC cotton technical conferences, which now include the Cotton Sustainability Conference, will meet concurrently beginning the afternoon of Jan. 5 and conclude by 5 p.m., Jan. 7. Those sessions will offer insight on topics ranging from U.S. Department of Agriculture’s recently launched Partnerships for Data Innovation to updates on the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol.
■ What about the U.S Cotton Trust Protocol?
COVID-19 also has led the NCC to employ a virtual format to escalate U.S. cotton producer enrollment in that sustainability initiative. The Trust Protocol conducted a series of webinars to increase producer awareness of the global cotton supply chain’s increasing scrutiny.
The series also examined how significant producer participation in the Trust Protocol can give brands and retailers the critical assurances they need to source U.S. cotton.
Producers can register for any of three regional December webinars at https://trustuscotton.org/enrollment-webinar-live-sessions/. The site also will list future webinars. A YouTube tutorial on the enrollment process is at https://youtu.be/AcbwQfHx3B8. More information can be obtained by emailing growers@trustuscotton.org.
■ Other virtual events being planned?
To minimize risks to U.S. cotton industry members due to the pandemic, the NCC’s 2021 Annual Meeting also will be held in a virtual format. Our staff soon will distribute a schedule and calendar meeting notifications.
We anticipate Annual Meeting committee meetings will occur during the weeks of Jan. 25 and Feb. 1 with board and general session meetings slated for Feb. 11-12. All NCC Members are invited to attend the General Session. Please direct questions to info@cotton.org.
Gary Adams is president/CEO of the National Cotton Council of America. He and other NCC leaders contribute columns on this Cotton Farming magazine page.