Thomas D. Valco is the Cotton Technology Transfer Coordinator for the Office of Technology Transfer, located at the USDA, Agricultural Research Service in Stoneville, Mississippi. He serves as the Mid-South Area technology transfer coordinator and coordinates technical interactions and tracks new developments related to cotton production and processing. Prior to USDA, Dr. Valco served as the Director of Agricultural Research with Cotton Incorporated with focus on cotton tillage, row spacing, chemical application and precision farming, defoliation and harvesting research. Dr. Valco received his BS and MS and PhD degrees in Agricultural Engineering from Texas A&M University. Dr. Valco is recognized as a national expert in Cotton Production and Processing Technology. He has authored and coauthored numerous publications and technical presentations on cotton production, precision farming, cotton harvesting and field storage, ginning, cottonseed handling and storage, and fiber quality evaluations. He works to organize and conduct gin schools at the three USDA, ARS Ginning Laboratories and also provides training to extension agents on ginning and textile processing to support the US Cotton Producers.
