Camp Hand is an assistant professor and Extension cotton specialist at the University of Georgia in Tifton. His research and Extension programs focus on cotton agronomics in Georgia, and his goal is to work with the UGA county agents and growers to answer questions that will help Georgia growers remain sustainable and economical. Camp received his BS and MS degrees at Auburn University in horticulture while minoring in agronomy. His graduate work at Auburn was conducted under Dr. Wheeler Foshee. He then went on to pursue a PhD at the University of Georgia in Tifton in weed science under the direction of Dr. Stanley Culpepper.
Randy Norton is an associate regional Extension specialist with the University of Arizona and also serves as the resident director of the Safford Agricultural Center. He has a BS degree in plant sciences with an emphasis in crop science and MS and PhD degrees in soil and water science with an emphasis in soil fertility and soil chemistry. The primary focus of his work is improving the efficiency and sustainability of desert agricultural systems through a broad research and Extension program directed at solving production challenges faced by growers across Arizona. Areas of research and Extension focus include soil fertility, variety evaluation, and management of certain pests and diseases in Arizona crop production systems.
Ken Lege is an Extension cotton specialist at Lubbock’s Texas A&M AgriLife Extension & Research Center. He has worked in the cotton industry for the last 37 years and considers himself cotton’s biggest advocate. While his career began as a cotton specialist at Clemson University, he’s spent much of his profession developing cotton varieties with companies such as, Monsanto, Delta and Pine Land Company, Sure-grow Seed and most recently, Corteva Agriscience.
Jenny Dudak is an Oklahoma State University Extension cotton specialist. She grew up in a small town in northeast Iowa and spent much of her childhood on her grandparents’ farm in Illinois, where she developed a passion for agriculture. Although she did not grow up in a strong cotton farming area, Dudak said the crop quickly felt like home. Her cotton career started as a student worker for the cotton Extension program at Texas A&M University, transitioning into a graduate student position studying cotton agronomics at TAMU and eventually providing private consulting while obtaining her Ph.D. in cotton weed science at Oklahoma State University.
Logan Simon grew up on a diversified crop/livestock farm in Adams County, Illinois 15 miles east of the banks of the Mississippi River, but traveled state-wide as an active member of the Illinois Association FFA (2014 American FFA Degree Recipient). He received his B.S. in Plant Science (2017) from the University of Missouri and his M.S. (2021) and PhD. (2024) in Agronomy from Kansas State University. Dr. Simon joined Kansas State University as an Assistant Professor and Southwest Area Agronomist in 2024. In his extension role, he serves 26 counties in southwest and south central Kansas. Dr. Simon’s applied research program focuses on dryland and limit-irrigated cropping systems for increasing regional productivity, water use efficiency, economic vitality, and environmental sustainability.
Ben McKnight is the Extension cotton specialist with the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. He completed his undergraduate and MS studies in agronomy at Texas A&M University and earned a PhD in agronomy from Louisiana State University. His MS and PhD research focused on novel weed management strategies in production agriculture.
