Kent Fountain, a Surrency, Georgia, ginner was elected National Cotton Council chairman for 2020 during the NCC’s 2020 Annual Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana. He succeeds Mike Tate, a cotton producer from Huntsville, Alabama.
A member of the NCC’s 2001-2002 Cotton Leadership Class, Fountain served as an NCC vice president from 2016-2018 and an NCC director in 2011. He has been on numerous NCC committees and has been the chairman of its Quality Task Force since 2016. Since 2010, Fountain has served as a director of Cotton Council International.
A past president of the South-eastern Cotton Ginners Association and the National Cotton Ginners’ Association, Fountain currently is a director for Staplcotn and Cotton Growers Warehouse Association.
He earned a degree in agricultural economics from the University of Georgia, and is president/CEO of Southeastern Gin and Peanut Inc. Fountain was named Southeastern Ginner of the Year in 2001 and received the Horace Hayden National Ginner of the Year Award in 2016.
He and his wife, Missi, live in Screven, Georgia, and have two sons.
2020 NCC Officers Introduced
Ted Schneider, a Lake Providence, Louisiana, producer, was elected the 2020 National Cotton Council vice chairman.
Elected NCC vice presidents are Jordan Lea, a Greenville, South Carolina, merchant, and Robin Perkins, a Sanford, North Carolina, textile manufacturer.
Reelected NCC vice presidents are Kirk Gilkey, ginner, Corcoran, Calif.; Kevin Brinkley, marketing cooperative executive; Ron Harkey, warehouser; and Robert Lacy Jr. cottonseed processor. All are from Lubbock, Texas. Reelected as secretary-treasurer is Barry Evans, a producer from Kress, Texas.
NCC staff officers include Dr. Gary Adams, NCC president and CEO; Harrison Ashley, vice president, ginner services; and Craig Brown, vice president, producer affairs.
Dr. Jody Campiche is vice president, economics and policy analysis; and John Gibson is vice president, member services. Reece Langley serves as vice president, Washington, D.C., operations. Dr. Bill Norman is vice president, technical services; and Marjory Walker is vice president, council operations.
New Class Inducted Into Arkansas Ag Hall Of Fame
Six individuals whose leadership and service have brought distinction to the state’s largest business sector were recognized recently as Class XXXIII of the Arkansas Agriculture Hall of Fame.
They include ag aviator and longtime chairman of the Arkansas State Plant Board George Tidwell, Lonoke, and Tuskegee Airman and retired Cooperative Extension agent Thomas Vaughns, Marianna. Another new class member is Gene Woodall, a retired University of Arkansas faculty member who paved the way for crop yield increases by creating verification programs emulated around the world.
Posthumous induction occurred for timber landowner and philanthropist Jane Ross, Arkadelphia, and Gene Sullivan, who served as state conservationist in three different states and guided key water management programs. The late cattleman and banker Leo Sutterfield, Mountain View, who served as chairman of the Arkansas Beef Council and a member of the Arkansas Farm Bureau board of directors also was inducted posthumously.
Arkansan Eddy Cates Named 2019 Cotton Consultant Of The Year
Eddy Cates, an independent crop consultant from Marked Tree, Arkansas, was recognized as the 2019 Cotton Consultant of the Year during the CCOY award reception at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee.
He is the 38th recipient of the award, sponsored by Syngenta and Cotton Farming magazine. To read more about him and his consulting business, go to www.cottonfarming.com and click on the Cotton Consultant of the Year button.
Cates says his career as a crop consultant has always provided a good life for him and his family.
“I have been blessed to learn from and work for some great people in the agriculture industry,” he says.
Joining Cates in the photo at the CCOY award reception are, front row from left, Cotton Farming Publisher Lia Guthrie, 2009 CCOY Joe Townsend, Eddy Cates, 2016 CCOY Tim Roberts and 2004 CCOY Tucker Miller.
Back row from left are Zada Hart Gates, wife of the late 1982 CCOY Jeptha “Jep” Gates; Wingfield Bouchard, wife of the late 1983 CCOY Dennis Bouchard; Syngenta Agronomy Services Manager Jeff Mink; 2010 CCOY Mark Nemec; 2006 CCOY Jack Royal; 2007 CCOY Danny Moore and 2017 CCOY Paul Pilsner.