Texas Tech's Fiber & Biopolymer Research Institute, in conjunction with the Lubbock Cotton Exchange, will host the 41st session of the Texas International Cotton School from Aug. 1-11. The High Plains program features classes, lectures, tours and hands-on interaction in all phases of cotton production, harvesting, ginning, classing, testing, preparation and processing.

The Cotton School is structured to provide an integrated understanding of the Texas cotton industry and how it interacts with the global cotton/textile complex, said Noureddine Abidi, FBRI Director and the Leidigh Professor in Tech's Department of Plant & Soil Science.

The program provides hands-on instruction in cotton breeding, production, harvesting, ginning, classing, testing, processing, transporting, marketing, exporting and logistics. In addition, participants are offered an integrated, vertical understanding of the U.S. cotton industry, with a Texas focus, and its interactions with an ever-changing cotton/textile sector.

The curriculum for this year's session includes:      

• Breeding strategies, production systems, cottonseed biotechnology
• Fiber properties/measurements, contaminants, textile chemical process, yarn/fabric properties
• Field-to-fiber, fiber-to-yarn, yarn-to-fabric
• International market promotion, international arbitration, trade finance, cotton insurance
• Marketing Topics: Cotton economics, futures/options, contracts, government programs, merchant role, exports, U.S. certification and delivery process through ICE
• Precision agriculture, sustainability issues, pima cotton, cotton ginning/classing, bale selection

Texas Tech’s FBRI, located approximately six miles east of the main campus, occupies 110,000 sq. ft. of space allowing researchers to conduct testing and evaluation from the raw fiber stage through finished textiles. Facilities include a multimedia classroom and conference room, biopolymer research lab, cotton phenomics lab, cotton ginning lab and cotton processing lab. 

CONTACT: Noureddine Abidi, Leidigh Professor and Managing Director of the Fiber & Biopolymer Research Institute; Texas Tech University at (806) 834-1221 or noureddine.abidi@ttu.edu

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