Curtis Stewart, a long-time ginner who has provided outstanding service and leadership to the U.S. cotton industry, is the 2022 Horace Hayden National Cotton Ginner of the Year. He was recognized at the recent 2023 National Cotton Ginners Association’s annual meeting in Dallas, Texas.
The annual NCGA award is presented to a ginner in recognition of able, efficient and faithful service to the ginning industry and continuing those principles exemplified and practiced by Horace Hayden, a former NCGA executive secretary.
General manager of Spade Cooperative Gin in Spade, Texas, Stewart has provided dedicated service and leadership to the industry during his career through participation in multiple organizations. He served a two-year term as NCGA president and is the outgoing NCGA chairman. He is a past president of Southern Cotton Ginners, Planters Cotton Oil Mill, Dumas Cotton Warehouse, among others. A graduate of the National Cotton Council’s Leadership Program, Stewart has served on multiple NCC committees and as a NCC director and director of its export promotions arm, Cotton Council International. He also is a past chairman of the Joint Cotton Industry Bale Packaging Committee.
A Texas native, Stewart graduated from Texas A&M University in 1982 with a bachelor’s in mechanized agriculture and then worked for several regional cooperatives that included the Plains Cotton Cooperative Association, Farmers Cooperative Compress, and New Home Coop Gin. He later earned a degree in Agriculture Engineering from Texas Tech while working at the USDA South Plains Ginning Laboratory in Lubbock—where he continues to assist in various research projects.
Stewart later worked as the engineer for Chickasha Cotton Oil Company in Casa Grande, Arizona, before coming president of Dumas Cotton Gin in Dumas, Arkansas. He joined the Spade Cooperative Gin in 2011.
