Delta and Pine Land Company (D&PL) will be a sponsor of the Cotton International Hall of Fame, a new annual program to recognize and honor the most influential and successful members of the global cotton community.

Established by Cotton International, the global publication of the cotton industry, the Cotton International Hall of Fame program will allow D&PL to establish more contacts in the cotton-merchant and textile-mill industries and draw more attention to the superior performance of D&PL-brand cotton varieties.

“Our participation in this program opens doors and opportunities to improve demand in the international textile community for cotton grown from D&PL seed,” says Peter Peerbolte, marketing director for D&PL. “It also allows us to help the American cotton producers who are selling their bales grown from D&PL seed in international markets.”

The inaugural class of the Cotton International Hall of Fame will be inducted and honored at the Liverpool Cotton Association Conference October 6, 2004 in Liverpool, England. The event will give D&PL executives great opportunities to promote U.S. cotton quality, and the quality cotton produced from D&PL varieties.

“The market for U.S.-grown cotton is becoming increasingly international,” says Peerbolte. “By aligning itself with the Hall of Fame program, D&PL gains access to the world’s most influential cotton buyers and textile executives. We plan to use that access to promote not only the quality and quantity of U.S.-grown cotton, but to increase awareness in the international markets of the superior yield and fiber performance of D&PL-brand cotton varieties, which are planted on more U.S. acres than any other brand.”

Hall of Fame inductees will be nominated through a process open to the global cotton industry, then selected in August by a panel of senior-level judges, which to date includes Bill May, American Cotton Shippers Association; Zbigniew Roskwitalski, Gdynia Cotton Association; Bill Spencer, Cotton International editor; Terry Townsend, International Cotton Advisory Committee; and Jan Wellman, Bremen Cotton Exchange. Following the induction ceremony in Liverpool in October, a $1,000 contribution will be made in the name of each honoree to a scholarship program at the American Cotton Shippers Association Cotton Institute at Rhodes College in Memphis, TN. Inductees will be profiled in the pages of the 2005 edition of Cotton International magazine.

For more details on the Cotton International Hall of Fame, including steps for nominating individuals for the 2004 class, go online at www.cotton-international.com/halloffame.