Each year the High Cotton Awards honor top cotton producers who have achieved high yields while using sustainable and environmentally sound production practices.

Sustainability is a long-term goal for the U.S. cotton industry, and cotton leadership is advancing technology and those on-farm practices that ensure the crop will continue to be produced in an effective, profitable manner.

“This is a very important award because it promotes sustainability, as well as productivity,” said Greg Frey, Farm Progress Senior Vice President for Operations. “These farmers are being recognized because they are doing good things environmentally to preserve their land and making great yields on top of that.”

For 29 years the High Cotton Awards have celebrated those producers that are building soil health, advancing transparency and increasing yields.

The winners are selected from the four regions of the cotton industry – the Southeast, the Midsouth, the Southwest and the West. Each region varies slightly in the way they produce the crop, but they are united in the ultimate goal of decreasing greenhouse gas emissions, soil loss, water use and energy use while increasing the carbon in soil and land-use efficiency.

"Each winner may approach cotton differently, but if you visited each operation the fellowship and comradery would be a familiar experience for you,” said Brad Haire, Senior Content Director at Farm Press. "It’s important work. They approach it seriously and this is how we help them share that experience.”

Related:Cotton producers honored at High Cotton Breakfast

Stewardship plays an important role in the winners’ operations. Whether large or small, the winning farms take great care of their land, ensuring that the farms can be passed on to future generations of cotton producers.

To nominate someone you know for the next High Cotton Award visit https://www.farmprogress.com/high-cotton-award. The deadline for nominations is August 31.