Ag News
Copeland, Fountain reappointed to Seed Development Commission
Posted on Dec 21, 2020 at 0:00 AM
On Nov. 25, Gov. Brian Kemp reappointed Ben Copeland and Kent Fountain to the Georgia Seed Development Commission.
Copeland, from Peach County, is CEO of Patten Seed Company. He has a bachelor’s degree in horticulture from the University of Georgia and grows sod, grass seed, small grains and soybeans. Copeland has served on the board of the Georgia Crop Improvement Association and the UGA College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences Dean’s Committee.
Copeland and his wife, Kelly, live in Fort Valley and have five children.
Fountain, president and CEO of Southeastern Gin and Peanut, Inc., in Surrency, is chairman of the National Cotton Council.
A past president of the Southeastern Cotton Ginners Association and the National Cotton Ginners Association, Fountain currently serves as a director for Staplcotn and Cotton Growers Warehouse Association.
Fountain earned a degree in Agricultural Economics at the University of Georgia, is the president/CEO of Southeastern Gin and Peanut Incorporated in Surrency. He is the recipient of numerous honors, including Southeastern Ginner of the Year in 2001 and received the Horace Hayden National Ginner of the Year Award in 2016.
Fountain and his wife, Missi, live in Screven, Georgia, and have two sons.
Georgia Seed Development is responsible for overseeing the foundation plant material production in Georgia. Since 1997, this effort has resulted in over $15 million of additional support for UGA cultivar development.
GSD works closely with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, the University of Georgia Research Foundation and the Georgia Crop Improvement Association in supporting various research projects and in bringing new cultivars to market.
Georgia Seed Development has an active seed production program for most crops grown in the state including peanuts, soybeans, small grains, cotton, canola, blueberries and bahia grass.
- Categories:
- Tags: