CURRENT ISSUE ARTICLES

Mid-South-Southeast Gin School Registration Still Open

Universal Cotton Standards Committee Announce Meeting

USDA Seeks Nominees for The Cotton Board

Cotton Incorporated Announces Partnership With Lucky Brand

Sales, Shipments Steady

Capital Calendar

 

Mid-South-Southeast Gin School Registration Still Open

U.S. certified ginners, gin managers and superintendents are urged to register for the Mid-South-Southeast Ginners School at the Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton, GA, June 4-6. 

Online registration and course descriptions are at www.cotton.org/ncga/ginschool/index.cfm. The school will offer the Levels I, II and III courses as well as the continuing education courses. 

Programming is coordinated by the National Cotton Ginners' Association (NCGA), working with USDA’s Greg Holt and USDA’s ginning laboratories.

School cooperators include USDA's Agricultural Research Service, NCGA and its member associations, the NCC, the Texas Cotton Ginners Trust, Cotton Incorporated, gin machinery/equipment manufacturers and suppliers, and select land grant universities.

Universal Cotton Standards Committee Announce Meeting

This week, the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), announced a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Universal Cotton Standards (Committee). This meeting is being convened to review the Universal Standards for American Upland cotton that are prepared by USDA and make recommendations to the Secretary of Agriculture regarding the establishment, revision, or change of the standards.

The in-person, three-day meeting will be held June 25, 2024, from 1:30 p.m. to approximately 5 p.m. central time (CT), June 26, 2024, from 9 a.m. to approximately 5 p.m. CT and June 27, 2024, from 9 a.m. to approximately 12 p.m. CT.

The meeting will be held at the DoubleTree by Hilton Memphis, 5069 Sanderlin Avenue, Memphis, TN 38117.

The meeting will be open to the public. The meeting agenda for June 25th includes presentations on a proposed standard for High Volume Instrument (HVI) color grade and a proposal to refresh the 1986 Original Standards. A formal meeting of the Committee will take place on the morning of June 26th, where presentations by invited speakers and formal Committee action will take place. On the afternoon of June 26th, Committee members will review the 1986 original set and reserve sets of standard guide boxes for authenticity. New practical forms will then be matched and approved on June 27th.
 
Written public comments for the Committee's consideration during the meeting should be submitted no later than June 19, 2024, and will be accepted via https://www.regulations.gov: Doc. No. AMS-CN-22-0093. Comments can also be sent via email to gretchen.deatherage@usda.gov or by mail to USDA, AMS, Cotton & Tobacco Program, 3275 Appling Road, Room #5, Memphis, TN 38133. 

USDA Seeks Nominees for The Cotton Board

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) seeks nominations of domestic cotton producers from Arizona, Georgia and Texas and importers of cotton and cotton-containing products for positions on The Cotton Board. The producers and importers will fill positions for seven members and seven alternates. USDA will appoint members and alternates to serve three-year terms beginning Jan. 1, 2025, to Dec. 31, 2027. 

Certified producer organizations (CPOs) and certified importer organizations (CIOs) will hold caucuses to nominate two qualified persons for each open position in their respective industry segment. 

Producer caucuses are scheduled as follows: all times are local: Arizona: Thursday, June 27 at 10 a.m.; Georgia: Monday, July 15 at 3 p.m.; and Texas: Thursday, July 25 at 11 a.m. An importers caucus is scheduled for Tuesday, July 9, at 10 a.m.

For nominating and caucus information, including organizations seeking certification and a list of CPOs and CIOs, contact AMS’ Cotton Research and Promotion staff at (540) 361-2726 or CottonRP@usda.gov.

Cotton Incorporated Announces Partnership With Lucky Brand

Cotton Incorporated announced a brand partnership with Lucky Brand. The Cotton Shop with Lucky Brand has its own landing page and features the Seal of Cotton logo on all 200+ Women's and Men's items within the shop. Cotton Incorporated and Lucky Brand are promoting the collaboration in a multitude of ways, including a series of social media posts, email blasts, advertising on podcasts, and utilizing influencers to promote The Cotton Shop at Lucky Brand in head-to-toe cotton looks on their Instagram and TikTok pages. Explore The Cotton Shop on LuckyBrand.com.

Sales, Shipments Steady

Net export sales for the week ending May 23, 2024 were 234,800 bales (480-lb.). This brings total ‘23-24 sales to approximately 12.9 million. Total sales at the same point in the ‘22-23 marketing year were approximately 13.7 million bales. Total new crop (‘24-25) sales are 1.8 million bales (480-lb.). 

Shipments for the week were 183,800 bales, bringing total exports to date to 9.5 million bales, compared with the 10.0 million bales at the comparable point in the ‘22-23 marketing year.

Capital Calendar

The House and Senate were in recess.

Next Week

June 3

The House and Senate convene.