My Turn

After many years of being asked by One Grower staff for a My Turn article, I relented and will try to give you readers some things to ponder. I spent my career as a research entomologist with the University of Tennessee, Ciba-Geigy and FMC. These ventures put me in contact worldwide with some very important and impressionable people. However, before ... Read More »

When it comes to working in the cotton industry — and cotton ginning in particular — you either immerse yourself in it, or you just get a little wet and move on. I would be one of those “immersion” types. This industry gets in your blood. It becomes not only a job, but also a vocation. But where does that ... Read More »

In the Central Valley of California the name Gallian is synonymous with cotton and the cotton industry. It all started with Quentin “Tennessee” Gallian building one of the first gins in 1950, known as Visalia Co-Op Cotton Gin. Pa, as we called him, boasted about an industry that surrounded him with family and friendship. Little did he know that two ... Read More »

Although I was not raised on a farm nor from a farming family, I always loved animals, especially cows and horses. I considered myself a cowboy and planned to major in pre-veterinary medicine when I started college at the University of Louisiana at Monroe (at the time, Northeast Louisiana University) in August 1996. My academic advisor encouraged me to pursue ... Read More »

Sixteen years ago, I was a college student at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, two hours away from my family’s cotton and peanut farm on the Texas Rolling Plains, searching for long-term significance – and a part-time job. As I was perusing the classifieds in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, my eyes settled on an ad for a newsroom clerk. I had ... Read More »

My Favorite MARtian This essay is a brief description of the contributions to cotton farmers made by my major professor, mentor and friend, Luther S. Bird, Ph.D., professor of genetics and of plant pathology, Texas A&M University, College Station. Dr. Bird developed cotton varieties resistant to biotic (diseases and insects) and abiotic (heat, cold and drought) stresses as well as ... Read More »

I grew up on a farm in Louisiana and have been involved in agriculture my entire life. Serving as state vice president and president of Future Farmers of America (FFA) while in high school and college set the course for my agricultural career. While I was state FFA president, I scouted cotton and participated in what was at that time ... Read More »