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Student and Fourth Generation Cotton Farmer Cortney Sumpter Heads Up FIDM SF Field Trip To Cotton Tree Ranch

Fashion Design Professional Designation Student Cortney Sumpter, who is a fourth generation farmer, recently hosted a cotton harvest tour for students at FIDM San Francisco to Cotton Tree Ranch, her Central Valley cotton farm that’s been in operation since the 1920s. Students and faculty observed a cotton picker harvesting and enjoyed a barbecue, tractor rides, and a cotton gin walkthrough at the farm located in Dos Palos, California. 

"Tour participants experienced our harvest resulting in massive cotton modules transported from our fields to the gin for processing," explained Cortney, who personally plants, cultivates, and irrigates the cotton grown on land owned for four generations. "Then our cotton is cleaned of seed and debris, made into bales, and taken to textile mills." 

Year to year, each crop produces a unique texture due to variance in weather, climate, and soil.

Her personal goal is to make collections with one-hundred percent cotton from her California farm. With knowledge gained from FIDM, she will introduce natural dyes along with plant, vegetable, flower, and soil prints sourced from the farm's natural abundance to the cotton collections. 

Cortney Sumpter has also earned a Masters in Science specializing in Acupuncture and a B.A. in Physical Education.

Categories:  Fashion Design Student