Eastland, Barrier in the news

Woods Eastland, board chairman of Staplcotn Cooperative Association and Staplcotn Discount Corporation in Greenwood is the recipient of the 2012 Harry S. Baker Distinguished Service Award. The award, named for the late California industry leader and past NCC President Harry S. Baker, is presented annually to a deserving individual who has provided extraordinary service, leadership and dedication to the U.S. cotton industry. Eastland is a past chairman of the National Cotton Council (2005), a past president and chairman of Cotton Council International and a past director of the Memphis Branch Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. He was a member of the New York Cotton Exchange board of managers and became a member of the New York Board of Trade’s Board of Governors when it was formed from the merger of the Cotton and Coffee, Sugar and Cocoa Exchanges. He served one year as vice chairman of that board.

A native of Doddsville, Eastland holds a B.A. degree from Vanderbilt University and a J.D. degree from the University of Mississippi School of Law. After graduation, he served in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps, U.S. Naval Reserve from 1970 until 1972. He then practiced law, and was a faculty member of the Jackson School of Law for two years. In 1974, he became a cotton, soybean and rice farmer in Sunflower County. He served as president and CEO of Staplcotn from 1986-2010. He and his wife, Lynn, have two children and three grandchildren.

Also, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has appointed Frederick Barrier, Staplcotn vice president of North American sales, to serve with 23 other members and 11 alternates to the Advisory Committee on Universal Cotton Standards. This committee is responsible for reviewing American Upland Cotton Standards and making recommendations to the USDA’s Agriculture Marketing Service concerning establishment and revision of the standards. Barrier has also been elected to serve in 2013 on the board of Cotton Council International, which is the export promotion arm of the National Cotton Council.