Beltwide Cotton Conference, Orlando, Florida,
Date: 01/03/2012 - 01/06/2012
The National Cotton Council and its cooperating partners welcome all to the 2012 Beltwide Cotton Conferences January 3 through 6 at the Orlando World Center Marriott in Orlando Florida. Four days of individual reports, panel discussions, hands on workshops and seminars are designed to provide attendees with the information they need to be the best cotton farmer possible. A dynamic program, along with the opportunity to network with peers from across the Cotton Belt, separate this conference from all others in agriculture. This conference will be educational, as well as enjoyable, for the entire family. Come, learn and experience all the sites and attractions that Orlando has to offer. Mark your calendar and plan to attend.


COTMAN Meeting, Orlando, Florida
Date: 01/03/2012 - 01/03/2012
Time: 8:00 AM - 12:00 AM
COTMAN meeting will be held during the 2012 Beltwide Cotton Conference at the Orlando World Center Marriot in the Crystal Ballroom K-L.


Cotton and Rice Conservation Tillage Conference, Tunica, MS
Date: 01/31/2012 - 02/01/2012
Sponsored by Cotton Incorporated, U.S. Rice Producers Association, and the United Soybean Board.

15th Annual Conservation Systems Cotton and Rice Conference

New Features in COTMAN IV
Date: 11/07/2012
Major software changes were made behind the scenes during the creation of COTMAN IV. These changes enabled the addition of some powerful new features.
A spatial data viewer was added so that sampling locations and field borders can be plotted on a map and exported as an ESRI Shapefile for spatial analysis in other software packages. Points can be labeled with sample data and exported as a JPEG image, or exported in Google’s KML file format for viewing, sharing, and editing in Google Earth or Google Maps. Field borders can also be imported from polygon Shapefiles.
A feature called “Site Groups” has been incorporated into each of the data entry forms (Stand Count, Square Map, Nodes Above White Flower, and Scout Map). Site Groups allow sampling sites to be shared between sampling activities so that once a group of sampling sites (with or without GPS coordinates) has been entered once, they can be imported in to any other sampling activity for reuse. Those site groups can also be exported to a file that can be shared with others collecting data in that field or downloaded onto a mobile device for field data collection with the new version of COTMAN Mobile.
The update to COTMAN Mobile, originally introduced with COTMAN III, was also a major one. The program flow has been reworked for more efficient field data collection. A non-gps option was added to further streamline the experience for users that decide not to use GPS for positioning. Site groups created in COTMAN IV can now be easily downloaded to the mobile device and can be shared between mobile devices in the field by exchanging a file on removable media (compact flash, SD card, jump drive, etc).
Finally, the analysis and reporting portion of the COTMAN software has been modularized as a software library that other data management software packages can incorporate. This can enable any software, where the appropriate data is entered, to generate reports using the COTMAN technology.