Gary Adams is the National Cotton Council’s president and chief executive officer. In that role, he helps guide the industry’s seven segments to reach consensus on critical policies affecting U.S. cotton, with the mission of helping all U.S. cotton industry segments compete effectively and profitably in global markets.

Adams also serves as president of the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol that was launched in July 2020.

Adams represents the U.S. cotton industry as a member of USDA’s Agricultural Policy Advisory Committee. He served on USDA’s Advisory Committee on Trade from 2005-2011 and on USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service Advisory Committee on Agricultural Statistics from 2003-2009.

Before being named Council President/CEO in 2015, Adams served for 13 years as Council vice president of Economic and Policy Analysis providing economic outlooks for global cotton markets and analyzing the impacts of farm and trade policies.

Prior to joining the Council, Adams was a research assistant professor in the University of Missouri’s Department of Agricultural Economics. During his 13-year tenure at the university, his primary responsibilities included policy analysis and market outlook for the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute, also known as FAPRI. While at FAPRI, Adams and his colleagues were recognized by the American Agricultural Economics Association for their distinguished policy contributions.

Adams earned B.S. and M.A. degrees in Applied Mathematics from the University of Alabama and a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Missouri. He and his wife, Carol, have four children.