Driving to Senath, Mo., in early December, you can’t help but notice the cotton fields that dot the landscape in this corner of the Missouri Bootheel.

Unlike some parts of the Mid-South, cotton never really left Senath even when corn futures rose to $8 and soybean futures to $14 to $15 a bushel, and farmers in other areas parked their cotton pickers.

Cotton’s staying power in a region is usually a testament to the determination of growers who refuse to give up on the crop. But it’s also a statement about the staying power of a local cotton gin.

In this case, the 4-Way Gin has served cotton producers in and around Senath for 65 years. For the last 35 of those, Cindy Wilkins has been the ginner at 4-Way, helping producers get the most out of their crop by handling their cotton efficiently, economically and ginning a quality product.

Wilkins’ reputation for working closely with growers to help them stay in business through cotton’s ups and downs has earned her recognition as the Southern Cotton Ginners Association’s 2022 Ginner of the Year. She was honored at the Mid-South Farm and Gin Show in Memphis, Tenn., in February.

Family association

Her family’s association with cotton ginning dates back to the 1930s when her late father, Robert Caneer, began managing the Bertig Gin and Grain Elevator near Senath.

“Mr. Bertig owned about 20 cotton gins and elevators back in the day,” said Don Wallace, Wilkins’ brother-in-law who along with his wife, Janet, nominated her for the award. “They did crop loans and everything else. In those days, there were five or six gins just around this little area.

“Cindy’s father managed one of Mr. Bertig’s gins beginning around 1939 or 40. In 1956, he and three other men formed this gin – that’s why it’s called 4-Way – and, in 1987, he had the opportunity to buy the other partners out.”

As most of us know, the number of cotton gins has been declining as ginning efficiency has improved and cotton acreage has fluctuated in many areas of the Delta. The gins that remain have learned to deal with larger acreages, more cotton and new technologies.

“This is a big cotton area,” Wilkins said. “Growers have stayed with cotton. In 2015, many of them grew grain because of the high grain prices. A couple of years later, most of them came back to cotton and have stayed with it. They still have some grain, but cotton is their main crop.”

2021 has been a year of surprises. December New York cotton futures rose to $1.19 a pound in November after pent-up consumer demand for apparel products and problems with the cotton crop in other parts of the world pushed prices to record levels.

“Most of our growers had their equities sold before prices got that high,” said Wilkins, who lives with her husband, Tommy, in Kennett, Mo. “But a lot of them made more cotton than they expected. They will get the benefit of the higher prices on that overage.” (She sends a marketing newsletter to growers and 4-Way sells some growers’ cotton for them.)

Wilkins has spent most of her life around cotton. Her father not only was a ginner, but also grew cotton on a farm near Senath. “When he wasn’t ginning cotton, he was growing it so it’s something I grew up with.”

She majored in accounting and received her degree from Arkansas State University. She worked for an accounting firm for three years and a bank for two years. When her father became the sole owner of 4-Way Gin, “he let me come work for him fulltime.

“I worked here at the Gin one fall after I got out of school, and I liked it,” she said. “This will be my 35th season of working at this gin.”

Starting out

The year she began – 1987 – was the first year a few growers in the area used module builders. Now about 90% of the cotton is picked and placed in round modules.

When she was interviewed, her crews were a few days away from having all of their modules in the gin yard. “We run out of room sometimes on where to put them, but we’re getting close to having them hauled in.

She expects to gin 46,000 bales from the 2021 crop. “The first year I worked here we ginned 7.600 bales, and I think that was the most this gin had ever ginned. That was also one of the biggest changes we had had, going from trailers to modules. The round bales have also been a big change – for the better.”

Ten years ago 4-Way was ginning between 20,000 and 30,000 bales a season. “The yields are so much higher now than they were then,” she noted. “Some of these new varieties are amazing. The yield is good, the turn-out is good and the seed not so good.

“When I first started working here in the days of D&PL 50, a 33 and one-third percent turnout was good, but we were also getting over 800 pounds of seed. This year I think it’s going to push it to make 600 pounds of seed per bale.”

Additional turnout

On the other hand, 4-Way will process more bales, which could help make up for the reduced seed turnout. “We just try to take care of our customers the best we can and hope they keep coming back.”

“Cindy and 4-Way Gin have always been proud of their ginning quality,” Don and Janet Wallace wrote in their nomination. “They follow behind their module trucks to make sure modules are picked up efficiently and safely, assist growers with module mishaps and any other services they require. 4-Way Gin has always been in the top of their field in grades and turn-out.”

4-Way has continued to add new technology as needed. “We’re a small gin so we don’t gin real fast, but we can pretty well take care of our cotton as long as we can get the labor we need.”

4-Way has had many of the same workers for years. The parents of some were working at a peach orchard and packing plant in Campbell, Mo., when Caneer asked them if they would work at the gin in the fall.

“Some of them have been working here for 25 years,” she said. “In fact, some of those working here now are the sons and daughters of the original crew that came down from the peach operation in Campbell.”

The Wallaces said they know Caneer and his wife would have been proud of what Cindy Wilkins has accomplished with 4-Way Gin – in their own quiet way.

“Cindy would never have ever filled that nomination form out on herself,” said Don Wallace. “And neither would my father-in-law. They don’t really go in for that. They just believe you do your job and do the best you can.”

Wilkins has been an active member of First Baptist Church in Kennett, Mo., and continues to support her home church in Senath. She has been a member and president of the Senath Lions Club and supporters of such organizations as the Delta Health Care Coalition, the Delta Children’s Home for Dunklin County and the Flo and Phil Jones Hospice House.

She also enjoys spending time with her two daughters, Cara Carter of Jonesboro, Ark.; Amanda Ezell of Paragould, Ark.; and five grandchildren.