The Cotton Forum could provide cotton producers with both a timely getaway from mid-season bugs and heat this season and get them up to speed on the latest cotton fundamentals and marketing opportunities.

The Cotton Forum will be held in New York City, July 23-24. The event will kick off Thursday, July 23, with dinner at a to-be-determined New York restaurant.

Friday morning July 24, attendees will gather at the Intercontinental Exchange, (formerly the New York Board of Trade) in downtown Manhattan for the Cotton Roundtable. A panel of experts will bring cotton producers up to date on the latest cotton fundamentals and provide a cotton outlook and pricing strategies.

Special guest speaker at the Roundtable is Joe Nicosia, president and CEO, Allenberg Cotton Co., Memphis. Other panelists include O.A. Cleveland, professor emeritus, Mississippi State University; Carl Anderson, Extension specialist emeritus, Texas A&M University; Jarral Neeper, president of Calcot, Ltd., and Mike Stevens, Swiss Financial Services.

Afterwards, Cotton Forum participants will visit the Exchange floor for live cotton options trading in the trading pits.

While cotton options trading still takes place in the trading pits using open outcry for price discovery, cotton futures trading has moved to a 100 percent electronic trading platform. After viewing the options floor, there will be a primer on how futures are electronically traded followed by a simulation of electronic trading.

There is still time to reserve a place on the roster. But space is limited. Call Pat McClatchy at (888) 795-8071 for registration or more information.

You don’t have to be in New York to listen to the Cotton Roundtable. The meeting will be broadcast live on the ICE Web site at http://www.theice.com and by teleconference to the Ag Market Network listening audience. The program will also be carried by KFLP radio, which covers the west Texas area. It’s also available live at http://www.kflp.net, on a 10-second delay. Questions for the meeting will be accepted from the listening audience.

An archive of the roundtable will be available at http://www.agmarketnetwork.net. The Cotton Forum is sponsored by the Intercontinental Exchange, Certified FiberMax, Cotton Incorporated, Ag Market Network and Farm Press Publications.