Jess Smith & Sons Cotton, LLC

In over 72 years, Jess Smith & Sons Cotton has grown from a local cotton brokerage operation into a major cotton merchandising firm. Mr. Jess Smith, from Jonesboro, Arkansas, founded the company in 1943. Since then the company has experienced solid, steady growth ever since. After the death of Mr. Smith in 1950, the company prospered under the capable leadership of Mr. Leo Smith, the son of Mr. Jess Smith. In 1976 a corporation was formed with Mr. Ernst Schroeder, Sr. became President. Since 1983, the Schroeder family has been the sole owner of the firm. The challenges we encountered have been overshadowed by the illustrious milestones that mark our company's achievement. In 1988, we established the Southern California Finance Company, allowing us to offer financial services to the grower community in California. Two years later, Jess Smith & Sons Cotton acquired a warehouse facility in Bakersfield, California. This allows us to guarantee timely delivery to our mill customers. In 2000, Ernie Schroeder Jr. became C. E. O. of Jess Smith & Sons Cotton. Under his leadership our company has continued to grow, providing sound and reliable service to our customers throughout the world, as we explore and act on opportunities as they present themselves. Jess Smith & Sons Cotton will continue to provide reliable and excellent service to the grower segment in the U.S. as well as mill customers throughout the world, serviced through a network of extremely capable agents and representatives. A motto that Jess Smith and Sons adheres to with regards to serving our customers. It is our guarantee and dedication to detail that builds trust and long lasting relationships. These relationships along with constant new and maturing ones have enabled our company to grow year after year. Consistent, even running and excellent quality are ensured in each of our shipments. All of our cotton is genuine grower direct which makes us quite unique and different from other shippers. Our contracts are made directly with the farmers allowing us to hand select specific bales to meet the customer's needs. Our multi-year grower commitments allow us to offer our partners long term contracts that help them with their strategic planning. With these special grower contracts, we are able to control the chain from planting, ginning, warehousing, quality control and shipping. We only deal with selected and approved gins and growers. Our farmers are financially the strongest, which allows them to spend the money to produce a quality crop. They farm large acreage on rich soils, have the latest state of the art farming equipment, keep their fields clean of any litter to prevent contamination, spray for insects in a timely manner to eliminate stickiness, always make the highest yields and produce the finest quality cotton. Most importantly, each grower must pass inspection of they are not admitted into our marketing program. We have field personnel that inspect each lot to make sure the farmer is adhering to the strict program.