For 28 years the National Cotton Council has facilitated a Producer Information Exchange (P.I.E.) program across the United States as a means of giving growers an opportunity to visit agricultural operations in other regions of the country.

In early August cotton producers from Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas visited farming operations in California’s San Joaquin Valley, seeing first-hand how growers raise premium cotton alongside a host of other crops.

Eleven producers hopped a tour bus for a week of visits to farming operations that included processing plants, a commercial dairy, cotton farms, a winery, table grapes and tree nut orchards.

Each day was capped with a barbecue dinner hosted by a local farmer.

Participants in this year’s tour of California farming operations were: Jayme Dunn, Santata, Kan.; Ron Wollman, Bessie, Okla.; and, from Texas: Corbin Clements of Snyder; Anthony Furgeson of Shallowater; Marcus Galle of Raymondville; Greg Harper of Sudan; Cody Hughes of Sweetwater; Sam Kellermeier of Garden City; David Kubenka of San Angelo; Dan Sanders, of Floydada; and, Nick Seaton from Meadow.

The annual event is sponsored by Bayer CropScience through a grant to The Cotton Foundation. In its tenure the event has exposed more than 1,100 U.S. cotton producers to innovative production practices in various corners of the country.

California cotton producers will visit two of Texas’ cotton producing regions from Aug. 14-19.