Pucheu said delegate-approved resolutions at the Annual Meeting enable the National Cotton Council to better channel its resources into the industry's priorities.
“Council action in 2007 included a primary focus on defending the U.S. cotton program and attaining sound trade policy,” Pucheu said. “Those remain as critical areas for the U.S. cotton industry in 2008 because new farm legislation is headed to a House-Senate conference and interest has heightened on bringing the World Trade Organization negotiations to a conclusion.”
Schafer, an entrepreneur and a business executive who served as North Dakota's Republican governor from '92-00, received unanimous Senate confirmation this week as the nation's 29th Secretary of Agriculture. He will address the Annual Meeting's Joint Session of Delegates on Saturday, February 9.
That session also will include the NCC's “Economic Outlook” presentation and Cotton Incorporated President/CEO Berrye Worsham's update on that organization's efforts to increase the demand for/profitability of cotton through research and promotion.
The National Cotton Ginners Association also will hold its annual meeting that day and feature a cotton classification outlook report from Darryl Earnest, Deputy Administrator USDA, AMS, Cotton and Tobacco Programs.
Among other important convention sessions are February 8 meetings of the Cotton Council International board of directors and the American Cotton Producers -- where the NCC's annual “Planting Intentions Survey” will provide the year's first insight into cotton growers' 2008 plans.