Just a Friendly Reminder that our state Ginner Meetings are this week and next. We will have the SC meeting Tomorrow, Wednesday September 15 in Santee at Clarks restaurant and NC/VA Meeting is on Thursday, September 16 in Wilson at the Ag Center. Both meetings start at 10AM. Please scroll down a couple of stories on the ginpress.org blog to find the RSVP links. No cost we just want to make sure we have enough food.

The Alabama / Florida Meeting will be via zoom. Please see the link in the same story below for zoom meeting registration. That will allow you to get the information for the meeting.

Thanks for your support of the. Southeastern Cotton Ginners Association.

DSF

The Southeastern Cotton Ginners Assn is now acceptation applications for the Ginner of the Year for 2021. The award will be given out in January at our Annual Meeting. Please see the accompanying MEMO for more details along with the application it is attached to. Deadline is October 8.

Give us a call if you have questions. (hover over the box below to find the download button at the bottom of the window)

DSF

9/9/2020 UPDATE: Please find the Obituary for Jerry by following the following link:

https://www.monroechapel.com/obituary/jervis-nall-jr?fh_id=11691&fbclid=IwAR25iHqZG2-oL1ma9sO38eNdyXTwUK_wNrd44THzXK5MMEQadtm3KdHEn5A

I hate HATE HATE writing these posts but they must be done. It is with a truly heavy heart that I write about the passing of one of our former officers and strong supporters of the organization, Jerry Nall. Jerry passed away yesterday, September 5. He had been in the hospital for a bit over a week following heart surgery. Since surgery, it had been a struggle but appeared to have turned a corner and improving. I was shocked to hear of his passing this morning.

Please keep Martha and the boys in your prayers. Anyone that knew Jerry knows what a force for good he was. A true gentle giant. A friend. A Bear with the paws of a grizzly and heart of a teddy.

Please watch this post for updates on arrangements. This is a very tough day for the industry and particularly in the Southeast.

We’ve finally gotten this year’s meetings nailed down. Dodging other events has been a bit of a chore (and not completely successful) and we hope the dates below don’t conflict too badly with your schedule. 

If you are unfamiliar with these meetings, Southeastern Cotton Ginners holds regional meetings each year to bring members up to date on issues affecting the ginning industry in each area. Some issues are state driven and others are national in scope. We have a full plate and hope you’ll be able to make one of the four meetings listed below. 

These are open meetings. All ginners (members or not) are welcome to attend. We will have reports from various affiliated organizations and insurance representatives as well. We will also distribute the No Lost Time Accident Safety Awards at these meetings. If you are not able to attend a meeting in your area, we encourage you to make one of the other meetings. 

ALL MEETINGS WILL START AT 10AM WITH LUNCH (Except Alabama/Florida) TO FOLLOW. CONCLUSION BY 1 PM.

This year’s Alabama / FL meeting will be by zoom with all others in person.

As always feel free to give us a call if you have any questions.

DSF

It is pretty obvious that a new wave of covid-19 is currently hitting the southeast and the country as a whole. We were hoping that this season would not have as many issues with the virus, but this new strain seems to be easier to spread and causing more health issues. Overall gins in the southeast did not seem to have any major outbreaks last season, and now is not the time to let our guards down. Most all gins took the guidance serious last season and implemented the necessary protocols to help prevent the spread of covid-19 in the workplace. OSHA issued its Covid-19 Emergency Temporary Standard(ETS) back in June and included guidance for employers that were exempt from the ETS. Cotton gins are exempt from the ETS, but we do need to continue addressing issues with covid-19 and re-evaluate our protocols as new guidance becomes available.

OSHA updated its covid-19 guidance for non-health care employers on August 13, 2021. This article will hopefully help our members be aware of the updated guidance and help to ensure that all necessary precautions are in place as workers begin arriving for the new season. This new guidance is based on the higher transmissibility of the Delta variant as well as preliminary evidence that fully vaccinated individuals can become infected with and spread the virus to others.

Top 10 Employer Takeaways

1. Employers should implement methods to facilitate and encourage employee vaccination.

OSHA recommends providing paid time off to get vaccinated and/or to recover from any ill side effects of the vaccine. Osha also suggests employers consider requiring workers to be vaccinated or undergo regular Covid-19 testing. In addition to regular testing, employees who remain unvaccinated should wear masks and social distance themselves.

2. Employers should instruct infected workers, unvaccinated workers who have been exposed to Covid-19, and all workers with Covid-19 symptoms to stay home from work.

As discussed in this article in the Southeast Farm Press, John Deere has announced its new pickers for 2021. A 75% redesign, the new CP770 has a lot of new features and additions that will make cotton harvest more efficient.

There are two of the features we, as ginners, need to be aware of moving forward. These new machines have a redesigned round module building system. This system makes the rolls 5% denser over the previous machines. This means a tighter module. Testing at gins in the field have not shown any real issues but anything that adds density may impact things like your module feeder bed, unwrapping system and feed head. Although a lot of testing has been done, there are a LOT of systems out there and not all of them could be tested.

The other issue to pay attention to is the fact they can make a 2% larger roll. The current models can make a 94 inch round and these can go to approximately 96. This two inches doesn’t sound like a lot but when module space is already tight in your module truck, it could get worse. Deere has told Southeastern Cotton Ginners that there will be a notification that the operator has to acknowledge that they should check with the gin before going beyond the 94 inch setting (We asked for a ginner lockout but they didn’t add that). Their testing shows no more ‘squat’ than their current machines but of course these haven’t been in mass production yet. In fact, Deere officials have told us that the higher density may help keep the modules from squatting as much as they currently do.

Only a handful of machines will be available this year across the belt. If one of your producers gets these new machines, we’d love to hear from you. What kind of experience do you have with these new machines. Please contact our office with your feed back on this machine.

DSF