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Thursday, Feb. 25

Friday, Feb. 26

SCHEDULE OF EVENTSAT THE PEABODY HOTEL

11:00 a.m. Southern Cotton Ginners Association Directors Reception and Meeting, Hernando DeSoto Room. 1:30 p.m. Southern Cotton Ginners Association and Foundation Annual Meetings, Venetian Room. Welcome: Ron Craft, President, National Cotton Ginners Association COTTON’S FUTURE IN THE MID-SOUTH-THREE REASONS FOR OPTIMISM ✦ Yield and Quality Potential, Jay Mahaffey, Scott Learning Center Manager, Monsanto ✦ Cotton’s Fiber Rebound, Mark Messura, Senior Vice President, Global Supply Chain Marketing, Cotton Incorporated ✦Technology Adoption — Opportunities Abound ■Dr. Tommy Valco, Cotton Technology Transfer and Education Coordinator, Office of Technology Transfer, Jamie Whitten Delta States Research Center, Stoneville, Miss. ■Larry Falconer, Extension Professor, Mississippi State University Department of Agricultural Economics, Delta Research and Extension Center, Stoneville, Miss. ■Dr. Bill Robertson, Professor, Cotton Extension Agronomist, University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture, Newport, Ark. 6:30 p.m. Honors Reception, Sponsored by Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau, Peabody Forest Room. All Association members welcome. (Tickets for reception and banquet must be purchased in advance.) 7:15 p.m. Honors Banquet, Peabody Venetian Room. All Association members welcome. (Tickets are required.) ✦ Honoring Ginner of the Year, George LaCour, Tri-Parish Gin, Lettsworth, La. ✦ SCGA Memorial Scholarship Honoree, Richard “Dick” Bransford, Lonoke, Ark. ✦ The A.L. Vandergriff Pioneer Award: Woods Eastland, Staplcotn, Greenwood, Miss.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS7:30 a.m. Shuttle bus service from Peabody, Doubletree, and other downtown hotels to Memphis Cook Convention Center begins.

AT THE COOK CONVENTION CENTER255 North Main Street

8:30 a.m. AG UPDATE MEETING, Lobby meeting room, Presiding, Holt Shoaf, SCGA President, L&H Gin, Milan, Tenn. ✦ Cotton Issues: Shane Stephens, Chairman, National Cotton Council, Greenwood, Miss. ✦ Outlook for Rice and Wheat, Carl Brothers, Senior Vice President/Chief Operating Officer, Riceland Foods, Stuttgart, Ark. ✦ Outlook for U.S. and World Cotton, Joe Nicosia, Senior Head, Cotton and Merchandising Platforms, Louis Dreyfus Commodities and Executive Vice President of Louis Dreyfus Commodities LLC, Cordova, Tenn.

9:00 a.m. MID-SOUTH FARM & GIN SHOW IS OPEN.

SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL EXHIBITS FOR 2016 SHOW Mid-South Land Grant Universities, the Extension Service, and state agencies will have special educational exhibits on the Mezzanine Level of the Convention Center. These outstanding exhibits will include the latest information on biofuels, biotechnology, conservation and wildlife management, and other innovative research topics.

1:30 p.m. MID-SOUTH AG FORUM: PROFITABILITY AND STEWARDSHIP TOGETHER — THROUGH TECHNOLOGY Mezzanine Level, Cook Convention Center ✦ Dr. Mike Daniels, Environmental Management Specialist, University of Arkansas, Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service ✦ Dr. Bill Robertson, Professor, Cotton Extension Agronomist, University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture, Newport, Ark. ✦ Steve Stevens, Farmer, Desha County, Ark. 5.00 p.m. MID-SOUTH FARM & GIN SHOW CLOSES.

HELENA CHEMICALFULL PAGE7.75X10.75

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Saturday, Feb. 27SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

7:30 a.m. Shuttle bus service from Peabody, Doubletree, and other downtown hotels to Memphis Cook Convention Center begins.

AT THE COOK CONVENTION CENTER255 North Main Street

8:30 a.m. AG UPDATE MEETING, Lobby meeting room, Presiding, Holt Shoaf, SCGA President, L&H Gin, Milan, Tenn. ✦ Grain Market Outlook/Marketing Strategies and Projections for 2016, Richard Brock, Brock Associates, Milwaukee, Wisc., will provide a grain market outlook and his unique insight into grain marketing and the challenges farmers will face in 2016. Special $500 cash attendance prize. Tickets must be obtained BEFORE the session begins at 8:30 a.m. Prize will be awarded at the close of the session and you MUST be present to win.

9:00 a.m. MID-SOUTH FARM & GIN SHOW IS OPEN.

SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL EXHIBITS FOR 2016 SHOW Mid-South Land Grant Universities, the Extension Service, and state agencies will have special educational exhibits on the Mezzanine Level of the Convention Center. These outstanding exhibits will include the latest information on biofuels, biotechnology, conservation and wildlife management, and other innovative research topics.

11:30 a.m. SOUTHERN CORN PRODUCTION SUCCESS — 486 BUSHELS PER ACRE AND COUNTING! Mezzanine Level, Cook Convention Center ✦Capturing the Genetic Potential of Today’s Hybrids — Randy Dowdy Randy Dowdy’s production strategies forcus on maximizing corn yields by minimizing stress that plants experience throughout the growing season. The Valdosta, Ga., farmer’s forward thinking approach to corn production challenges traditionally accept ed practices and focuses on extracting as much yield as possible from each seed planted. If you’re interested and committed to trying something new and willing to be a student of the crop, you’re invited to attend this seminar and learn about Dowdy’s approach to growing high-yield crops. This seminar will cover Understanding Plant Physiology and Components of Yield; Capturing Genetic Yield Potential; Alleviating Inevitable Stress a Plant May Face; Nutrient Uptake; Understanding Timing vs. Availability; and Stepping Outside Your Comfort Zone.

1:30 a.m. SPECIAL RICE MARKETING EDUCATIONAL SEMINAR, Convention Center Mezzanine Level ✦What a Rice Farmer Needs to Know to Prosper — Milo Hamilton, co-founder and senior agricultural economist of Firstgrain, Inc., is the speaker. The formation of the rice price in the Delta is not well understood. Rice futures are an Americas — not an Asian — contract, and a lot of the hype and worry are misdirected. Climate trends, water, and relative value of rice to other things will drive the acreage planted in the U.S., and the profitability of growing rice in Brazil or Arkansas.

4:30 p.m. MID-SOUTH FARM & GIN SHOW CLOSES.

AT THE PEABODY HOTELIN THE GRAND BALLROOM

9:00 p.m. THE JAMBOREE (Adults Only, Please), Everyone Welcome. Cash Bar. Music by The Krackerjacks, courtesy of Bayer CropScience; Cherokee Fabrications; CM Material Handling, Inc.; Lummus Corporation; Memphis Compress; Nationwide; Planter Cotton Oil Mill, Inc.; Samuel Strapping; Signode Industrial Group; Stover Equipment; and T.J. Beall.

For more information: farmandginshow.com or southerncottonginners.org

Download the 2016 Farm and Gin Show App for show schedules, exhibitor locations, Ag Updates information, things to do in Memphis, and other show details. Also avail-able on iTunes and at the Android Store.

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SCGA ANNUAL MEETING Thursday, Feb. 25 — 1:30 p.m. Peabody Hotel, Venetian Room

■ RON CRAFT is president of the National Cotton Ginners Assocition. A fifth generation farmer and cotton ginner, he was raised in Plains, Texas. He and his sister own New-Tex Gin Company in Plains. He is also a co-owner of Lov-Cot Warehouse at Lubbock, Texas. He is an Executive Committee and Board member of the National Cotton Council, a current member and past president of Plains Ginners, Texas Independent Ginners, and the Texas Cotton Ginners Associations. He currently is the Secretary and Treasurer of the Yoakum County Farm Bureau.

■ DR. MIKE DANIELS has served for the past 19 years as an Environmental Management Specialist for the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service. He has focused on addressing water-related issues facing Arkansas agriculture by developing educational and training programs for agricultural professionals, with emphasis on soil and water conservation, water quality and nutrient management.

■ DR. LARRY FALCONER is an Extension Professor in the Mississippi State University Department of Agricultural Economics, located at the Delta Research and Extension Center at Stoneville, Miss. In private indus-try, he developed econometric models of cotton and oilseed industries, short and long-term forecasts of supply and utilization trends in domestic and world oilseed and cotton markets, and timely economic analysis and forecasts in support of ranching, farming, feedlot and meat-packing management, as well as commodity futures trading.

■ JAY MAHAFFEY, a native of Chase, La., joined D&PL in the early 1990s as an entomologist in the Technical Services Group, working in the development and support of new transgenic products, seed treatments, and other technology for the cotton seed market. He has also worked with Roundup Ready, Bollguard II and Roundup Ready Flex. For the last 6 years he has been the manager of Monsanto’s Scott Learning Center, where testing is done on the latest advanced agronomic practices with Monsanto Products consisting of corn, cotton and soybeans.

■ MARK MESSURA is Senior Vice President of Global Supply Chain Marketing for Cotton Incorporated, where he is responsible for the com-pany’s global marketing programs with retailers, brands and manufactur-ers. He currently serves as Chairman of the International Forum for Cotton Promotion. He serves as an adjunct associate professor in the College of Textiles at North Carolina State University and on the Washington State University Extension National Board of Advisors.

■ BILL ROBERTSON has served as Extension Cotton Specialist with the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture since 2013, a position he held for 12 years before leaving the Division of Ag for eight years to join the National Cotton Council in Memphis. He provides educational programs in cotton production and agronomic systems that improve yield and profitability.

■ STEVE STEVENS and his family farm in Desha County in Southeast Arkansas. He started farming with his father in 1971, with owned and rented land of 1,400 acres. His father increased Steve’s responsibilities through 1982 upon his retirement. Steve began expanded the farming operation as opportunities presented themselves after his father retired. Today Steve and his family farm 4,800 acres of land they own or rent, growing cotton, corn, soybeans, and wheat.

■ DR. THOMAS VALCO is cotton technology transfer and education coor-dinator in the Office of Technology Transfer located at the Jamie Whitten Delta States Research Center at Stoneville, Miss. He has a joint position between ARS and CSREES, and coordinates technical interactions related to cotton production and processing. He also tracks new developments in cotton technology related to cropping systems, conservation tillage, precision farming, cotton ginning, fiber quality and textiles.

AG UPDATE SEMINARFriday, Feb. 26 — 8:30 a.m.

Lobby Meeting Room, Cook Convention Center

■ CARL BROTHERS is senior vice president and chief executive officers of Riceland Foods, a diversified agricultural processing and marketing cooperative at Stuttgart, Ark. A native of Little Rock, he began his career with Riceland in 1965 as a sorting machine operator at the Stuttgart mill. He has served in production control, industrial sales, export sales, and as vice president of rice marketing. He is the U.S. rice industry’s representa-tive on the government’s Agricultural Technical Policy Advisory Committee for International Trade, and a member of the USDA Advisory Committee on Agricultural Statistics.

■ JOE NICOSIA is Senior Head of the Cotton and Merchandising Platforms for Louis Dreyfus Commodities, and Executive Vice President of Louis Dreyfus Commodities LLC. He joined the Group in 1981 as a grain trader in Minneapolis. In 1982 he transferred to Allenberg Cotton Co. in Memphis, and in 1985 assumed responsibility for cotton trading worldwide. Since 2010, he has been Director and Vice President of LDC Holding Inc., and the coordinator of the trading and merchandizing activities of the cotton business.

■ SHANE STEPHENS was elected National Cotton Council chairman at the industrywide organization’s 2016 Annual Meeting in February. Stephens is the vice president of Greenwood, Mississippi-based Staplcotn’s cotton services and warehouse divisions, responsible for recruiting and servicing the cooperative’s grower/members, as well as overseeing 14 warehouse locations. Currently, he is vice president of the Cotton Growers Warehouse Association. He is a director of EWR, Inc. in Memphis.

GRAIN MARKET OUTLOOKSaturday, Feb. 27, 8:30 a.m.

Lobby Meeting Room, Cook Convention Center

■ RICHARD BROCK, is owner and president of Brock Associates, an agricultural marketing advisory service, and publisher of The Brock Report, a 20-page weekly fundamental and technical newsletter. His firm, now with seven offices, manages grain sales on over 500,000 acres throughout the U.S. and is an advisor on purchasing strategies for many large poultry, pork, dairy and food companies. Brock is on retainer with several agribusiness firms for his input on strategic planning. He writes a monthly column for Delta Farm Press and Feed Stuffs magazines. Learn more about Richard Brock on the company website www.brockreport.com or call 800-558-3431.

Guest Speakers

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