The Commission's Richey Seaton joined 18 others for the Southeast Congressional Tour that took place Aug. 20-23, and was sponsored by Southern Cotton Growers, Southeastern Cotton Ginners Association and the Commission.

Congressional participants included representatives from the Washington, D.C. and Georgia offices of Congressmen Saxby Chambliss, Sanford Bishop, Mac Collins, Senators Max Cleland, and Zell Miller. Other congressional guests included representatives from Alabama, South Carolina and Virginia.

The first stop was to tour through the Lummus Corporation plant, a manufacturer of cotton ginning and manmade fiber processing machinery.

The next stop was in Douglas for a look at the Coffee County Gin Company.

In Tifton, the group toured the National Environmentally Sound Production Agriculture Lab (NESPAL), the recently completed facility that is on the cutting edge of research on precision agriculture.

After touring the facility, the group was briefed on the latest activities in the area of precision agriculture, including the use of pivots and tractor guidance assistance. Of particular interest is the work being done on the refining of yield monitors for cotton and peanuts.

In addition, they were briefed on the status of the cotton breeding programs and the work being done in this area. While still in Tifton, they had a chance to go through the Chickasha of Georgia cottonseed crushing facility.

The final stop was Bob McLendon's farm where they viewed advanced production techniques for cotton and other row crops.