Senator Blanche Lincoln to Address '10 NCC Annual Meeting

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, will deliver the keynote address at the National Cotton Council’s 2010 Annual Meeting being held here on February 4-8.

She will speak at the general session on Monday, February 8, at The Peabody hotel. The convention is expected to attract more than 800 U.S. cotton industry leaders and industry stakeholders from the 17-state Cotton Belt.

Senator Lincoln also is a senior member of the Finance Committee. One of the few experienced farmers in Congress, Chairman Lincoln has championed the cause of production agriculture, rural communities and child nutrition and conservation programs throughout her distinguished career, first in the House and more recently in the Senate. She has been dedicated to ensuring the farm law is properly implemented and has taken the lead in an effort to provide emergency disaster relief to farmers who suffered severe crop losses in 2009.

The February 8 session also will feature a report from NCC Chairman Jay Hardwick, a Louisiana cotton producer, along with a special video presentation summarizing NCC’s key 2009 activities. NCC delegates also will review and adopt specific resolutions to guide the NCC’s 2010 programs and activities in six key program areas: farm and economic policy; international trade; public relations and international market development; research and education; packaging and distribution; and health, safety and the environment.

Important convention sessions on February 5 include: 1) Cotton Council International’s board of directors meeting and 2) the American Cotton Producers meeting which will feature a report by Jim Miller, USDA Under Secretary of Agriculture for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services, and the NCC’s announcement of its 2010 planting intentions survey results.

The February 6 events will feature Rep. Travis Childers (D-MS), a member of the House Agriculture Committee, addressing the National Cotton Ginners Association; the presentation of the NCC’s Economic Outlook and a report from Cotton Incorporated President J. Berrye Worsham. The Saturday luncheon will feature Charlie Cook, the publisher of TheCook Political Report.

More NCC Annual Meeting information is at http://www.cotton.org/news/meetings/amreg/.

As the unifying force of the U.S. cotton industry, the Memphis-based National Cotton Council brings together industry representatives from the 17 cotton-producing states to establish policies reflecting the common interests and promoting mutual benefits for its broad membership and ancillary industries.