The National Cotton Council has scheduled dates and locations for the 2012 Producer Information Exchange (P.I.E.) Program. Sponsored by Bayer CropScience through a grant to The Cotton Foundation, the program is now in its 24th year of helping its U.S. cotton producer participants improve yields and fiber quality.

This season, Southeast producers will see operations in California on July 22-27; Southwest producers will travel to Mississippi, Arkansas and Missouri on July 29-August 3; Far West producers will visit North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia on August 5-10; and Mid-South producers will tourWest Texas and South Texas on August 19-24.

The P.I.E. program enables cotton producers to improve yields and fiber quality along with boosting their overall operation’s efficiency by: 1) gaining new perspectives in such fundamental practices as land preparation, planting, fertilization, pest control, irrigation and harvesting and 2) observing firsthand the unique ways in which their innovative peers are using new and existing technology.

Upon completion of this year’s four tours, the P.I.E. program will have exposed more than 1,000 U.S. cotton producers to innovative production practices in regions different than their own.