FUNSTON, Ga. — Tom Stallings, owner of Funston Gin Co in Funston, Ga., has been named the Southeast Cotton Ginner of the Year for 2021. 

The award was presented at the Southern Southeastern Annual Meeting held in late January in Hilton Head Island, S.C. Southern Southeastern is a joint meeting of the Southern Cotton Growers and Southeastern Cotton Ginners Association. The award was presented by National Cotton Council President Kent Fountain.

Stallings’ military service began in the 101^st Airborne Division as a door gunner in Vietnam. After serving his country he graduated from Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College and Georgia Southwestern University. In 1987, Stallings purchased Funston Gin Co from the 50 shareholders who had formed Funston Gin Company in 1964. Funston Gin grew from 3,000 bales per year to a high of over 90,000 bales.

Stallings has held numerous leadership positions with the Southeastern Cotton Ginners and National Cotton Council, and he is a past president of the Cotton Warehouse Association of America. He has represented the cotton industry across the world in these various roles. He was a member of the first Cotton Leadership Class to China. This class reached a memorandum of understanding with the China Cotton Association in 2006.

Stallings sponsors FFA, 4H, and other youth organizations in several counties in South Georgia. He has been a longtime supporter of the Moss Farms Diving and Aquatic Center. He serves as the chairman of the Board of the Moultrie YMCA.

The Southeastern Cotton Ginners Association awards the Southeast Ginner of the Year to deserving recipients that have shown leadership and meet the qualifications set out by the awards committee. The awardee must be a progressive ginner who endeavors to keep cotton strong in their community, is active in the industry, is respected by his peers, and is active in civic affairs, and generally supportive of the cotton industry. Nominations are submitted by other members of the association and selected by the award committee.