For most of its 19 years the National Conservation Systems Cotton and Rice Conference rotated between such locations as Houston, Little Rock, Baton Rouge and Tunica, Miss.

This year, John LaRose, founder of the event, which also includes the Southern Corn & Soybean Conference, the Southern Precision Ag Conference and the Delta States Irrigation Conference, decided to try Memphis, Tenn., and more specifically the Hilton Hotel in East Memphis.

While traffic in Memphis can always be challenging, 746 producers, crop consultants, university researchers, Extension specialists and industry representatives traveled to the city to attend the conference, which is sponsored annually by Cotton Incorporated, the U.S. Rice Producers Association and the United Soybean Board. Delta Farm Press is a co-sponsor.

The conference featured 131 presentations on topics ranging from the relationship between yield and fiber quality in new cotton varieties to the use of alternate wetting and drying irrigation practices for Mid-South rice to how cover crops can sequester nutrients and hold them for release in the spring in conservation to how Mississippi is addressing the declining groundwater levels in its alluvial aquifer.

Here are some photos from this year's conference, held Jan. 13 and 14.