Corky Dalton

     Dalton Cotton Co.

     Senath, Missouri

Elton O. "Corky" Dalton is the newest member of Beltwide’s board of directors. He lives at Kennett, Missouri. He and his wife, Eleanor, own farmland in Dunklin, Pemiscot and Stoddard counties, and a cotton gin in Senath, Missouri.

He grew up in and graduated from Piggott (Arkansas) High School in 1956. Corky graduated from the University of Memphis, where he was a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity.

The Dalton family has been in the cotton business for over 80 years. In 1997, they built a new cotton gin equipped with a 50 bale per hour Lummus system. The gin processed a record 55,000 bales in 2004.

Corky is president of Dalton Cotton Company, Inc., Dalton Land Company, and Senath Fertilizer, Inc. He is vice president and part owner of the North Delta Cotton, LLC warehouse in Manila, Arkansas. He is secretary-treasurer of Rivermont Village, Inc., University of Memphis Alumni Association, and the Memphis Sigma Chi Alumni Association. Corky and Eleanor are members of the First United Methodist Church in Kennett.

For many years, Corky was active in several community and agricultural-related boards. He is currently serving on the National Cotton Council’s board from Missouri.

The Daltons credit much of their success to their gin’s producers. Growers in the Missouri bootheel are very modern, up-to-date farmers who are constantly looking for ways to improve farming methods and, ultimately, farming yields. Dalton Cotton Company is proud to count the region’s finest farmers as their customers. More success can be attributed to the excellent job of ginning by his dedicated gin crew through the years.

Corky and Eleanor’s son, Dr. Kyle Dalton, lives in Conway, Arkansas. He and his wife, Kay, have two daughters, Cathey Lee and Kelsey. Beth Craig, who is Corky and Eleanor’s daughter, also lives in Kennett. Her husband, Robert, is the manager at Dalton Cotton Company. They have two sons, Stephen and Dalton.

Corky has enjoyed his long-time association with the farming industry and looks forward to making contributions as a member of the board of Beltwide Cotton Co-op. He and his farmers have been impressed with Beltwide Cotton Co-op during the years they have been associated with it, and this year his gin’s participating acreage more than doubled to over 16,000 acres.