MEMPHIS, Tenn. — February 19, 2025 — Richard Lindsey, a veteran Alabama ginner who has provided outstanding service and leadership to the U.S. cotton industry, is the 2024 Horace Hayden National Cotton Ginner of the Year. He was recognized at the recent 2025 National Cotton Ginners Association’s (NCGA) annual meeting in Dallas, Texas.
The annual NCGA award is presented to a ginner in recognition of: 1) able, efficient and faithful service to the ginning industry and 2) continuing those principles exemplified and practiced by Horace Hayden, a former NCGA executive secretary.
Lindsey partnered with Brent Tidwell and his son Richard Lindsey, Jr. in their family farming operation known as Coosa River Land Co. He is active on several boards, including First Southern State Bank, Cherokee County Alfa Organization, and Howell Cemetery Association. Richard is the current President of the National Cotton Ginners Association, having served as a Vice President for the previous three years. He has served on numerous National Cotton Ginners and National Cotton Council
committees, is a National Cotton Council Director, a member of the Council’s Executive Committee, and a member of the Cotton Council International Board of Directors. Additionally, he has served in numerous roles within the Southeastern Ginners Association, including President, and was selected as the Southeastern Ginner of the Year in 2010.
Lindsey, a native of Cherokee County, Alabama, has a rich history in cotton farming, beginning with his first harvest in 1957 as a 4H project. Over the past 58 years, he has been a dedicated cotton producer and remains active in managing Cherokee Gin and Cotton Company, the largest gin in Alabama.
He also served in the Alabama House of Representatives for 35 years, holding key positions such as Chair of Appropriations and Agriculture Committees. His legislative achievements include bringing a satellite campus of Gadsden State Community College to Cherokee County, with the sports arena named in his honor. Richard retired from legislative service in 2018 but continues to contribute to the cotton industry.
The NCGA also recognized Tim Price as recipient of the NCGA’s 2024-25 Charles C. Owen Distinguished Service Award. That award honors those who have provided a career of distinguished service to the U.S. ginning industry.
Price, born in 1952 in Calvin, Louisiana, has a distinguished career in agriculture. Active in FFA during high school, he became the state president and later earned degrees from Louisiana State University and Texas A&M. He worked at the Federal Land Bank in New Orleans before joining the American Farm Bureau Federation, where he handled commodity and marketing issues and national farm program legislation.
In 2003, he became the Executive Vice President of the Southern Cotton Ginners Association and Manager of the Mid-South Farm and Gin Show. His contributions earned him the 2023 National Agriculture Marketing Association Ag Association Leader of the Year Award. He remains a strong supporter of the National Cotton Ginners Association.
Price has made substantial contributions to the NCGA through his active role in the National Cotton Ginner Committee and his advisory capacities within the National Cotton Council.
During its annual meeting, the NCGA elected as its 2025 officers: president – Larry Black, Roscoe, Texas; first vice president – Brad Williams, Burlison, Tenn.; second vice president, Tom Pires, Riverdale, Calif.; and third vice president, Ben Evan, Douglas, Georgia. Richard Lindsey will become chairman of the board. Harrison Ashley, Cordova, Tenn., is NCGA’s executive vice president.
Posted: February 19, 2025
Source: National Cotton Ginners Association
