In what is being dubbed “the comeback year,” the majority of Georgia cotton faced down the 2006 drought with amazing results. High fiber quality and premiums of up to 5.19 cents per pound led county agents across the state to nominate exceptional growers for the second annual Georgia Quality Cotton Awards.

“We expected fiber quality to be a challenge because of weather conditions this year,” said Dr. Steve Brown, Extension Agronomist – Cotton, University of Georgia. “After estimating mid-September cotton at about 200 pounds in many areas, we’re very pleased the state of Georgia averaged 800 pounds per acre for 2006.”

Twelve producers from across the state of Georgia have been named the best growers of high quality cotton in the state, aided in part by a long, dry harvest season free of frost and low insect pressure. The announcement was made during an awards banquet at the Ritz Carlton, Reynolds Plantation, Ga., for the Georgia Quality Cotton Award Recognition Program.

“This year was a strange year and cotton left in the field to mature yielded better than those acres picked earlier,” Brown said. “Our farmers have made a concerted effort to manage stinkbugs. They’re right to link stinkbug populations with yield preservation and fiber quality.”

The awards program has provided an opportunity to identify the producers and ginners dedicated to producing high quality cotton, according to Dr. Don Shurley, University of Georgia economist. “Statewide, our quality has improved and USDA data clearly supports that. When you look at the winners just in terms of their quality, what contributed to their nomination was good color grades and long staple. In some instances where quality was close, the strength made the difference.”

The award was started after reports of poor cotton quality surfaced in 2003, after which several U.S. textile mills expressed concern about the quality of Georgia cotton. The program serves two purposes: to showcase the excellent cotton produced and ginned in Georgia each year and identify what production practices are necessary to product high quality cotton.

In an effort to highlight that quality cotton can be and is produced in the state of Georgia and to inspire producers to aim for even higher quality, The University of Georgia Cotton Team, the Georgia Cotton Commission, Southeastern Cotton Ginners Association and USDA initiated the Georgia Quality Cotton Award that is sponsored by Bayer CropScience. The Georgia Quality Cotton Award provides a venue to identify not only high quality cotton that is being produced in Georgia, but also other quality-related management practices.

Every ginner in the state of Georgia had the opportunity to nominate a producer in each of three acreage categories: 1) less than 500 acres; 2) 500 -1,000 acres; and 3) more than 1,000 acres. Once a grower is nominated and the packets are filled out, they were certified for completeness by the county agent.

For the purposes of this award, the state is divided into four regions representing northwest, northeast, southeast and southwest locales. From these regions a winner was determined in each of the acreage categories, which resulted in 12 winners from across the state.

The 2006 Winners are:

Category 1: Less than 500 Acres

Area 1
Grower:          Ryan Henderson- Terrell County, 236 acres
Average Loan Value - 57.69 cents/lb
Premium - 4.84 cents/lb
Gin:                 McCleskey Cotton Company

Area 2
Grower:          Ratchford Hill Farms- Jefferson County, 240 acres
Average Loan Value - 57.57 cents/lb
Premium - 4.57 cents/lb
Gin:                 Bryant’s Gin

Area 3
Grower:          Derrell Bennett, Jr.- Cook County, 44 acres
Average Loan Value - 57.89 cents/lb
Premium - 5.19 cents/lb
Gin:                 BCT Gin

Area 4
Grower:          Travis Braswell- Seminole County, 263 acres
Average Loan Value - 56.84 cents/lb
Premium - 4.14 cents/lb
Gin:                 Cloverleaf Gin

Category 2: 500 - 1,000 Acres

Area 1
Grower:          Lance Thompson- Pulaski County, 732 acres
Average Loan Value - 56.58 cents/lb
Premium - 3.73 cents/lb
Gin:                 Arabi Gin

Area 2
Grower:          Brett & Brett Farms- Jefferson County, 690 Acres
Average Loan Value - 56.69 cents/lb
Premium - 3.69 cents/lb
Gin:                 Farmer’s Gin and Storage Company

Area 3
Grower:          Charles Dodd- Brooks County, 655 acres
Average Loan Value - 55.87 cents/lb
Premium - 3.17 cents/lb
Gin:                 BCT Gin

Area 4
Grower:          Wilbeth Farms- Seminole County, 530 acres
Average Loan Value - 55.09 cents/lb
Premium - 2.39 cents/lb
Gin:                 Cloverleaf Gin

Category 3: More Than 1,000 Acres

Area 1
Grower:          Grimsley Farms- Terrell County, 1,200 acres
Average Loan Value - 55.88 cents/lb
Premium - 3.03 cents/lb
Gin:                 McCleskey Cotton Company

Area 2
Grower:          J.H. Harrison Farms- Jefferson County, 1,078 acres
Average Loan Value - 56.90 cents/lb
Premium - 3.90 cents/lb
Gin:                 Farmer’s Gin and Storage Company

Area 3
Grower:          DeWitt Farms- Brooks County, 1,621 acres
Average Loan Value - 55.17 cents/lb
Premium - 2.47 cents/lb
Gin:                 BCT Gin

Area 4
Grower:          Heard Family Farm- Seminole County, 1,186 acres
Average Loan Value - 56.31 cents/lb
Premium - 3.61 cents/lb
Gin:                 Cloverleaf Gin

Nomination packets for the 2007 season will be sent to gins across the state in the fall. At that time the nomination form could also be downloaded from the UGA Cotton Web Page at www.ugacotton.com.