Story and Photos by Blair White

Chris Berry’s path to becoming a co-op gin manager has been anything but conventional. From his roots as a cattle rancher and a spirited Texas A&M Aggie, to serving as a principal investigator at a chemical research company and working as an independent gin manager, he has embraced diverse challenges throughout his life. Today, he proudly leads Southwest Cotton Growers in Wellman, Texas, marking a significant milestone as his first time managing a co-op gin.

This is the first co-op gin I’ve managed, and it’s a completely different animal,” Berry explained. “The idea of a co-op is a solid business model. The collective working together is so much stronger than the individual standing alone. I was drawn to the gin and the people here – this board is phenomenal. It’s a very young board, and that’s one of the assets of this gin. They are very progressive in their thinking and some of the best businessmen I’ve ever been around. I love the people I get to do it with and the people I do it for. My farmers are the only reason I choose to sit in this chair.”

Berry is also very involved in the broader cotton industry. He serves on the Board of Directors for the FiberMax Center for Discovery, and in June 2023, he began his term as the President of the Texas Cotton Ginners Association. He is the chairman of the National Cotton Council’s Packaging Distribution Committee and the NCC’s Joint Cotton Industry Bale Packaging Committee. These NCC leadership committees help oversee the cotton bale’s specific packaging and shipment from the time it leaves the gin to when it arrives at the textile mill.

“The industry faces challenges constantly, so being active is important,” Berry explained. “It will take all of us working together and being on those committees in those organizations to make progress. It will all fall apart if we start trying to do this individually and spread out. That’s why it’s important to me to be active in what I am passionate about, because why else am I here?”

Berry’s leadership positions reflect his commitment to advancing the cotton industry, and it starts at the community level. With only three significant businesses in Wellman, Southwest Cotton Growers plays a crucial role in the town’s economic livelihood. Berry emphasizes supporting the community and educating students about the cotton industry. Sometimes, if the conditions are right during football season, they’ll even pause ginning operations to support the Wildcats.

The Goodman Cotton Gin was originally constructed near Tyler, Texas.

“We get the elementary kids to come over before we start ginning to introduce them to the cotton industry,” he said. “The school is the life of a town this small. We do everything and anything we can to support them, whether it be scholarships or helping with their stock show animals. We may go pick up trash or help fill in potholes. We are doing everything and anything we can to support the community of Wellman.”

Southwest Cotton Growers has a long history of commitment to the town of Wellman. The gin was first listed in the Texas Cotton Ginners Association Red Book in 1956. Initially, the co-op was independently owned, first by the McNabb family and then by the Pendergrass family in Wellman. Then, in the 1990s, a group of farmers came together and purchased the gin, establishing it as a co-op and duly naming it Southwest Cotton Growers.

The gin has evolved over the years. Today, it has a capacity of over 45 bales an hour, and during one bumper crop, even ginned 65,000 bales for the season. Berry says one of his team’s biggest challenges is the plastic contamination from round module wraps.

“We are very conscientious about keeping the plastic from entering our ginning line,” he expressed. “Good housekeeping in the field carries over to the gin. We’ve trained our employees on removing the wraps, and our growers have also completed training. Plastic contamination is one of the costliest things that can happen to a cotton farmer. All of their hard work has gone into producing that cotton, and then to get that plastic call, that’s never good.”

To add even more value to the gin’s members, Berry says he always has his eyes peeled for new ways to innovate or, more specifically, automate.

This photo was taken the day the gin was moved to the Texas Tech Museum, formerly on the university’s campus in Lubbock.

“Automation and AI are what is going to help some of those industry challenges that are cost-prohibitive whenever we are in a drought like we are,” Berry said. “We are looking to add the bagger, which will help increase the efficiency by lowering our costs. That will probably be the next step. Whatever else AI can bring, we are always looking down the road. I would say efficiency is the key advantage to being at Southwest Cotton Growers.”

When Berry isn’t looking toward the future, he can be found indulging in the past, researching the rich history of one of his favorite projects – the relocation of the Goodman Cotton Gin (see the related story on page 20). Berry started sharing the idea of moving the gin to the ag museum when he was president of TCGA.

“That gin operated about 10 miles from where I was born and raised,” Berry said. “It was a piece of home. When I got up here (Lubbock), it sat four miles from the ag museum at the Texas Tech museum. All we had to do was find somebody to move it. The Goodman Gin is the last example of a true, animal-powered cotton gin. That’s one of the reasons why I wanted it saved. It was built at the tail end of the Reconstruction Era. There was a short window after that era when the steam-powered engines came in just before the turn of the century. I couldn’t be happier that we can preserve it at the museum and showcase it like it should be.”

Berry also mentioned that he has contacted the Goodman family descendants, who are equally happy that the gin has been preserved. However, it still begs the question—how did an East Texas cotton gin end up in Lubbock?

“The gin was slated to go to the Fairgrounds in Dallas,” he explained. “For some reason, they couldn’t ever come to terms with that. So, they chose the

Texas Tech Museum in Lubbock because at the time, Lubbock was the newest cotton-growing region in the United States. We were the last to plant cotton out here on the Texas High Plains.” Beyond the significance of preserving agriculture’s legacy, Berry emphasized the broader implications of understanding history – our roots.

“It is essential to see where we have come from,” he said. “Where we have come from is what will light the path forward. It shows us where we need to go – maybe not necessarily where we are going, but where we need to go. We don’t need to get so far removed from the past that we forget. How many of us could plant a garden today, and can this winter’s groceries? Not many.”

While such abilities may seem lost to time, Berry’s optimism about the new Dan and Linda Taylor Cotton Heritage Center at the FiberMax Center for Discovery suggests a promising future for agricultural innovation.

“I want it to showcase our industry for future generations – what we do and why we do it is so important,” he expressed. “It’s important for them to know that the thread this shirt is made of came out of the dirt right outside, so they might also appreciate their next pair of jeans a little more.”

Whether serving the members of his gin in Wellman, contributing to the larger agricultural community, or indulging in and preserving history, Berry’s commitment lies in maintaining all that is good about agriculture for generations to come.

“The people I get to work with daily are the salt of the earth,” he said. “The main thing to remember is what the American farmer does for this country and the world. Now, that landscape is changing, and the challenges are unreal. The fabric that makes up those individuals hasn’t changed. I love the people I get to do it with and the people I get to do it for.”