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“SHAFTER COTTON RESEARCH STATION: A CALIFORNIA FARMING LANDMARK” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Agriculture was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E1806 on Sept. 18, 1997.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
SHAFTER COTTON RESEARCH STATION: A CALIFORNIA FARMING LANDMARK
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HON. WILLIAM M. THOMAS
of california
in the house of representatives
Thursday, September 18, 1997
Mr. THOMAS. Mr. Speaker, the Shafter Cotton Research Center, in Shafter, CA, is celebrating 75 years of research for California cotton production and this month becomes a State registered landmark. The designation recognizes the important research contributions this center has made to the California cotton industry. We also recognize the historic relationship between California cotton growers, the University of California, Kern County and the U.S. Department of Agriculture that has made the Shafter Cotton Research Center so successful.
This center got its start in 1922 and has been in the forefront of efforts to buck common wisdom ever since. At that time, many people in the cotton industry thought California was too far from the mills in the eastern United States for California to ever become a cotton powerhouse. The work done in cooperation between Federal, State and local government and private industry that led to the ACALA cotton variety developed here proved the skeptics wrong. Since then, work on the 120-acre center grounds has produced innovations in labor-saving mechanization, pest control and other farm practices.
The California industry made possible by the Shafter Cotton Research Center contributes over $1 billion to the California farm economy and
$340 million to Kern County. California cotton's quality is so well known around the world that 80 percent of the cotton grown here goes into export markets.
The Shafter Cotton Research Center continues to lead in cotton industry research. Today's research is looking into ways to reduce tillage in cotton production, potentially valuable to farmers faced with clean air requirements to reduce airborne dust. The center is also doing work on sophisticated means of monitoring crop health, means which could allow farmers to reduce applications of pesticides and other chemicals. It is still a cooperative venture. Under an agreement struck in 1991, the Department of Agriculture, the University of California, Kern County and the cotton industry are cooperating to keep the research center in operation so that this unique facility will continue to produce cutting-edge technology for the California cotton farmer of the 21st century.
The Shafter Cotton Research Center is a landmark in California to the creative energies of generations of farmers and scientists because of the way everyone has rolled up their 100 percent cotton sleeves to work together. We recognize that cooperation's key role in the center's historic and future importance.
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