Edward M. Barnes is Senior Director of Agricultural and Environmental Research at Cotton Incorporated where for the last fourteen years he has managed agricultural engineering related projects, including programs on: precision farming, ginning, irrigation management, conservation tillage, and cotton harvest systems. He has also served as a team member in documenting cotton’s progress in reducing its environmental footprint while at the same time increasing productivity and currently serves on the Science Advisory Council of Field to Market, The Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture. Prior to coming to Cotton Incorporated, he spent seven years as an Agricultural Engineer for the USDA, Agricultural Research Service at the U.S. Water Conservation Laboratory in Phoenix AZ developing uses of remotely sensed data for agricultural management, with a focus on water optimization. He has been a member of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineer’s (ASABE) for 30 years and served as chair of the society’s Engineering for Sustainability Committee, and is a trustee of the ASABE Foundation. In 2013 he was awarded the National Conservations Systems Precision Agricultural Researcher of the year award, and in 2014 the ASABE Mayfield Cotton Engineer of the Year Award. Over his career he has received five ASABE Blue Ribbon awards for agricultural education activities, two USDA Certificates of Merit for research accomplishments, and authored or co-authored over 80 technical publications. He received his BS and MS in Biological and Agricultural Engineering from NC State University and PhD in Biosystems Engineering from Oklahoma State University.
