2018 P.I.E. Program Tour Dates Set

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The National Cotton Council (NCC) has scheduled tour dates and locations for the 2018 Producer Information Exchange (P.I.E.) Program.

Now in its 30th year, the program has enabled more than 1,100 U.S. cotton producers to go to Cotton Belt regions different than their own where they learn about their peers’ innovative production practices.

Sponsored by Crop Science, a division of Bayer, through a grant to The Cotton Foundation, the P.I.E. program has a goal of helping U.S. cotton producers maximize production efficiency and improve yields and fiber quality by: 1) gaining new perspectives in such fundamental practices as land preparation, planting, fertilization, pest control, irrigation and harvesting; and 2) observing diverse farming practices and the unique ways in which other resourceful producers have adopted new and existing technology. A unique program benefit is that the participants get to ask questions of both the producers they visit on the tours but also from producers from their own region that they travel with during the week.

This season, producers from the Far West and Southwest regions will see agricultural operations in the Mid-South states of Arkansas, Missouri and Tennessee on August 5-10; Southeast producers will visit California’s San Joaquin Valley on August 12-17; and Mid-South producers will tour two of Texas’ cotton production regions on August 19-24.

The NCC's Member Services staff, in conjunction with local producer interest organizations, conducts the P.I.E. program, including participant selection.