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The World Cotton Research Conference-4 (WCRC-4) was held at the Civic Center in Lubbock, Texas, USA, during the week of September 10-14, 2007. Official attendance at the WCRC-4 was 590 people. They came from 37 countries and from every continent around the world. There were 64 additional people who came as invited guests and from media sources covering the Conference.
The WCRC-4 was officially inaugurated with comments by Dr. Terry Townsend, Executive Director of the ICAC and Dr. Dean Ethridge, Chairman of the U.S. Organizing Committee. Mr. Todd Staples, Texas Commissioner of Agriculture and Mr. Robert Duncan, Texas Senator provided the official welcome.
Over a four-day period, four outstanding plenary sessions were presented on: (1) Cotton Genomics and Biotechnology, (2) Strategic Challenges and Opportunities, (3) Keeping Cotton Competitive with Alternative Fibers, and (4) Strategic Management Issues. In addition, thirty-nine outstanding breakout sessions were conducted in various research disciplines. There were 21 plenary speakers and 201 breakout session speakers during the 4-day period of September 10-13. There were 118 posters displayed throughout these 4 days, with one specially hosted interaction session for the posters.
In order to take advantage of the rich infrastructure in and around Lubbock, the U.S. Organizing Committee provided two tours. The first was on Wednesday afternoon, September 12, with attendees visiting the Texas Tech Research Farm, the Cropping Systems Research Laboratory, and the Lubbock Cotton Classing Office. The second tour was an all-day activity on Friday, September 14. During the morning, attendees visited and toured the International Textile Center of Texas Tech University and the Texas A&M University Research and Extension Center. Then everyone visited a commercial cotton farm, a modern cotton gin, a major research station displaying all available irrigation technologies, and a state-of-the-art commercial dairy operation.
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