TIFTON — The Georgia Cotton Commission has named the guest speakers for its 15th annual meeting.

The meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 26, at the UGA Tifton Campus Conference Center, commission members said in a statement.

The annual meeting is held in conjunction with the UGA Cotton Production Workshop conducted by the UGA Research & Extension Cotton Team.

The UGA Cotton Production Workshop will feature breakout sessions where attendees will learn the latest technical production strategies from the researchers whose projects are funded by the commission’s research program, commissioners said.

The Georgia Cotton Commission annual meeting will follow the breakout sessions and feature speakers from several industry organizations. There will also be an area for interested producers to ask questions and sign up for the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol, the Cotton Industry’s sustainability platform.

The program speakers are Kent Fountain, chairman, National Cotton Council of America; Jimmy Webb, chairman, The Cotton Board; and Kim Kitchings, senior vice president of consumer marketing, Cotton Incorporated.

Fountain, the president/CEO of Southeastern Gin and Peanut, in Surrency, has served as the chairman of the National Cotton Council since 2020. He was a NCC vice president from 2016-18 and served on the NCC’s Board in 2011.

Fountain is a past president of the National Cotton Ginners Association and the Southeastern Cotton Ginners Association and serves as chairman of Premium Peanut, vice-chairman of the Georgia Ports Authority and director for Staplcotn and the Cotton Growers Warehouse Association.

The recipient of numerous honors, he received the Southeastern Ginner of the Year in 2001 and the Horace Hayden National Ginner of the Year Award in 2016. Fountain, who was a member of the NCC’s 2001-02 Cotton Leadership Class, earned degrees from the University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences.

Webb has been the owner/operator of Harvey Jordan Farms in Leary, since 1986 where he grows cotton, corn and peanuts and is currently serving the industry as the chairman of The Cotton Board, the organization charged with administering the Cotton Research & Promotion Program.

Webb is a director of Southern Cotton growers and Staplcotn, a former director of the Georgia Cotton Commission, a cooperative delegate to the National Cotton Council and the former president of Cotton Council International. Webb is a partner in Edison Gin Co-op and president of Harvey Peanut Company. He holds a B.S. in agriculture from the University of Georgia and graduated from the NCC Cotton Leadership Class.

He also served on Cotton Incorporated’s board of directors and was the chair of the audit committee and the product research and development committee. Webb won the Georgia Farmer of the Year in 2006 and the Georgia Young Peanut Farmer of the Year in 2009.

Kitchings is the senior vice president of consumer marketing at Cotton Incorporated. She leads consumer and trade advertising, public relations, corporate strategy, global market insights and strategic alliances.

In this role, her primary goals are to motivate consumers and the trade to buy items made of cotton and to affirm cotton as the fiber of choice for sustainable and eco-friendly products. 

During her 20-year career in the cotton industry, Kitchings has been instrumental in strategic assessments of global consumer demand and market evaluations for cotton. She oversees the use of a wide-array of tools such as digital marketing, social media, television, strategic partnerships and presentations to communicate cotton’s messages to various constituents.

Kitchings earned degrees from North Carolina State University and Meredith College and is a frequent presenter at industry conferences on innovation, consumer insights and marketing.

Following the annual meeting speakers, the commission will host lunch where sponsors will be recognized, door prizes will be given away and the Georgia Quality Cotton Awards for the 2021 crop will be awarded.

The meeting, production workshop and lunch are open to not only cotton growers but anyone interested in the cotton industry. The UGA Cotton Production Workshop breakout sessions will be repeated after lunch.

There is no charge to attend. Pre-registration is requested to help with meal plans. Register online at www.ugatiftonconference.caes.uga.edu or call (229) 386-3416.

Sponsors:

– Deltapine/Bayer Crop Science – John Deere – Farm Credit Associations of Georgia – Stoneville/BASF – Phytogen/Corteva Agriscience

– Americot, Inc.-NexGen – Ameris Bank – Choice Cotton Company – Cotton Growers Cooperative – CNI – Cotton Solutions Cooperative – Georgia Farm Bureau Hays-LTI

– Helena Agri-Enterprises – Lasseter Tractor – Magnolia Loom – Ag Insurance Advisors-Nationwide Agribusiness Insurance – Nutrien Ag Solutions

– Quail Forever – R.W. Griffin – Rabo AgriFinance – SePRO Corporation – Southeast AgNet Syngenta – Synovus – Tidewater Equipment Company/CASE-IH

– Triangle Chemical Company Triangle Insurance – Valent USA – Valley Irrigation – Vantage Southeast – Yara US – Zimmatic Irrigation