Camp Hand Awarded the 2024 Beltwide Cotton Specialist of the Year
Each year, the University Extension cotton specialists select a colleague to recognize as the Beltwide Extension Cotton Specialist of the Year. On Wednesday, Jan. 3, Camp Hand of the University of Georgia received this annual award for his leadership, dedication, an exceptional service in developing and conducting educational programs to meet the needs of cotton producers and the U.S. cotton industry.
Camp Hand, Ph.D., also serves as assistant professor in Crop & Soil Sciences working from Tifton, Georgia.
The award event was sponsored by David Albers, product development manager — cotton germplasm, for Bayer U.S. Crop Science. He said, “As a former cotton specialist myself, I know this award is an important tradition that we are happy to sponsor. We appreciate the leadership in education provided by all the University Extension cotton specialists throughout the year.”
Virginia Tech cotton specialist Hunter Frame serves as president of the group. And refers to them as a “unique fraternity” willing to support each other across the cotton belt. The annual gathering to recognize one of their peers is acknowledged by many as the highlight of Beltwide.
Past recipients of this Beltwide Extension Cotton Specialist of the Year include the following:
J.C. Banks
Tom Barber
Randy Boman
Claude Bonner
Steve Brown
Tom Burch
Charles Burmester
Seth Byrd
Guy Collins
Johnny Crawford
Darrin Dodds
Stewart Duncan
Keith Edmisten
Dan Fromme
Lawrence Harvey
Bob Hutmacher
Andrea Jones
Bob Hutmacher
Andrea Jones
Mike Jones
Tom Kerby
Robert Lemon
Murilo Maeda
Chris Main
Jim Maitland
Will McCarty
Bob Metzer
Dale Monks
Gaylon Morgan
Randy Norton
Bobby Phipps
Tyson Raper
Bill Robertson
Paulus Shelby
James Supak
David Wright