Future cotton gin managers

A new academic program will help provide the technical training for cotton gin managers of the future.

Students may choose an emphasis in gin management and technology while earning a bachelor of science degree. The Southern Cotton Ginners Association is providing a total of $20,000 to support the new program in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering.

"There is a great demand in the mid-South for people to manage cotton gins," said department head Jerome A. Gilbert. "There are many gins with older managers, so we expect to see many managerial openings developing in the South."

Gilbert said today's highly automated gins need managers trained not only in agriculture, but also in technology and business. "Managers of the future must be able to interact with process controls, automatic equipment, and computerized offices and plants, and be able to handle the business side of the industry," he added.

While the program initially is focused on ginning, Gilbert says other areas of agricultural commodities processing also will benefit in the future.

"The Boll Weevil Eradication Program and an increased demand for natural fibers have helped create a more profitable environment for growing cotton in the United States," he said. "The cotton industry has recognized a need for highly trained managers and has turned to Mississippi State to help meet the demand."

In addition to the academic courses, the academic program offers an intensive two-week course each summer for students and cotton industry managers. This year's courses took place earlier in August at the federal Agricultural Research Service's Cotton Ginning Research Laboratory in Stoneville.

The Southern Cotton Ginners Association also has begun a scholarship program which will offer three awards annually, one each to a student from Mississippi, Arkansas and Tennessee.

SCGA board president Kenneth Hood of Gunnison, president of Hood Equipment Co. in Batesville and a 1962 agriculture graduate of Mississippi State, recently donated $15,000 to the university to establish an endowed scholarship for gin management and technology students.