2011 is the sixth year of the Georgia Quality Cotton Award program which is co-sponsored by the Georgia Cotton Commission and Bayer CropScience and administered by the University of Georgia Cotton Team. 

The purpose of the awards is to recognize producers and ginners of high quality cotton fiber and to identify general management practices associated with the production of high quality fiber for the benefit of other growers. 

There are 12 producer awards and they are given in each of three cotton acreage categories, within the four regions of the state: Category 1, below 500 acres; Category 2, 500 to 1000 acres; Category 3, Over 1,000 acres. 

Each producer winner, gin and county agent will be recognized at a special evening reception beginning at 4:00 p.m. on Jan. 26, 2010, at the UGA Tifton Campus Conference Center. The producers and their gins will receive a plaque and the winning growers will also receive a $500 cash award. 

County Extension agents will contact gins and encourage them to nominate one grower in each of the three categories.  Nominations include: (1) all cotton produced by the farm operation including irrigated, non-irrigated, owned and rented; (2) cotton from all gins, if ginned at more than one.

The nominating gin, however, must be the gin where the majority of the cotton is processed; (3) the county Extension agent supporting the nomination must be from the county where majority of the cotton is produced. 

Once the gin identifies nominees, they need to contact the county Extension agent, who will complete the bottom of the nomination form and submit it; (4) the nomination must include the completed form and Bale Analysis Summary reports from each gin; (5) to be considered, the nomination must have a total Loan Value above Base Grade. 

The deadline for nominations to be submitted is no later than Jan. 14, 2011, via US Postal Service to: Don Shurley — UGA Tifton Campus, P.O.Box 1209, Tifton, Ga. 31793; via fax: 229-386-3440 or via e-mail: [email protected].

For more information about the Georgia Quality Cotton Awards please contact your local UGA Cooperative Extension office.