Table of Contents

Vol. 36, No. 1 | Spring 2003

With the 2003 cotton season well underway, the increasingly volatile market has turned its attention to production concerns as it now appears global demand for quality fiber will be strong in the upcoming year. In its second forecast for the 2003-04 marketing season released on June 11, USDA projected a 1.5-million-bale decrease in U.S. ending… Read more »

PCCA commemorates its 50th Anniversary in 2003, celebrating half a century of cutting-edge ideas, innovations, acquisitions, and the occasional controversy that accompanies great change. It took all of these contributing factors to transform a small marketing cooperative into the largest farmer-owned cotton cooperative in the world. Warehouse Divisions Facilitate Early Growth PCCA became more than… Read more »

The 2002-03 cotton season proved to be a fruitful one for Plains Cotton Cooperative Association (PCCA) and 25 coop gins that broke records for the number of bales handled during the season. With nearly half of the record-setting gins beating their old figures by at least 20 percent, it only makes sense that PCCA had… Read more »

Travelers on U.S. Highway 62 between Lubbock and Brownfield soon will find a pleasant surprise on the roadside in Ropesville, Texas. The surprise comes in the form of a CENEX/AMPRIDE convenience store, courtesy of Ropes Coop Gin, located on gin property. Sammy Means, manager of Ropes Coop Gin, said the idea for the store was… Read more »

Cotton farmers and industry leaders descended upon Austin on March 4, 2003, to celebrate a day billed as “Cotton Day at the Capitol.” The event marked the seventh consecutive state legislative session when a day was set aside to promote the commodity. Cotton Day at the Capitol is sponsored by Texas Cotton Producers, a statewide… Read more »

Retiring Farmers May Find Investment Opportunities in Business or Commercial Properties Death and taxes, someone once said, are inevitable. For some, taxes are the most onerous since they seem to impact almost every facet of daily activity. Whether it is sales tax, income tax, property tax, fuel tax, estate tax, or capital gains tax, everyone… Read more »

Texas’ 78th Legislature Faced Difficult Decisions The 77th Texas Legislature in 2001 was applauded for its efforts on behalf of the state’s rural areas and agriculture industry. Focusing on issues such as rural economic development, health care and education, telecommunications, transportation, and agriculture policy, many critical initiatives were launched. Two years later, many of those… Read more »

The Texas Agricultural Cooperative Council (TACC) recently honored three individuals for their dedication to the cotton and cooperative industries during the organization’s annual meeting in San Antonio. TACC named Bob Weatherford of Corpus Christi, Texas, Cooperator of the Year. Honored with the Ginner of the Year award was Gene Beck of New Home, and Wayne… Read more »

Southern Kansas Cotton Growers Cooperative (SKCG), located in Winfield, Kan., took its place among the ranks of local industrial giants Rubbermaid and General Electric when the coop received the Industry of the Month Award for April from the Cowley County Economic Development Agency (CCEDA). “With all of the big industry in this area, it’s quite… Read more »

Three students from Texas Tech University’s College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources (CASNR) were awarded the Howard Alford Memorial Scholarship this year. Plains Cotton Cooperative Association (PCCA) endowed the Alford scholarship in 1974 in remembrance of its former chairman. Chelsey Miller, a freshman agricultural communications major from Tahoka, Texas, Shawna Thomas, a freshman animal… Read more »