BASF helped to recognize the Cotton Specialist of the Year and Cotton Marketer of the Year at last week’s Beltwide Cotton Conferences.

Dr. Murilo Maeda, assistant professor and extension cotton specialist from Texas A&M University AgriLife Extension, in Lubbock, Texas, was named the 2023 Cotton Specialist of the Year.

Maeda has been in the cotton industry his entire life, growing up in Brazil on his family’s cotton farm, coming to the U.S. in 2010, receive his doctoral degree in agronomy and crop physiology in 2015 from Texas A&M University. In 2018, he made his debut in the extension industry.

“Along with solid field knowledge, Dr. Maeda also brought an excellent focus in technology, specifically a focus into drone use for producers,” said Kenny Melton, BASF Agronomic Services Manager. “He does a great job bringing West Texas producers into the 21st century and beyond. Not only does he bring the technology knowledge needed to make advancements, but he also does a great job explaining what he is doing and why so that the producers can have a baseline knowledge as well.”

Maeda recently accepted a full-time position with BASF as its Breeding Technology Manager. Along with his wife and two children, he will be moving back to Brazil to use his focus on drones and the sensing industry to work on BASF’s cotton breeding business in Brazil.

Arkansas cotton grower Joe Mencer was named Cotton Marketer of the Year. The Joseph J. O’Neill Cotton Marketer of the Year award presented by ICE Futures (formerly the New York Cotton Exchange) and BASF dates back to 1991.

Mencer is a third-generation farmer and has been farming since 1979 when he started his operation in Lake Village, Arkansas, with 125 acres of rice on his father and uncle’s land. Mencer had been working for his family since he was old enough to drive the equipment used on their farm. Today, Mencer grows 1,800 acres of cotton, 1,800 acres of rice, 1,000 acres of corn and 2,400 acres of soybeans. He also manages 1,600 acres of timber across Arkansas and Mississippi.

Mencer runs a family business with the help of his wife and two sons and is also heavily involved in many agriculture boards and committees, including the Arkansas Boll Weevil Board, representing Arkansas on the National Boll Weevil Board, the USA Rice and Arkansas Rice boards.

Listen to Mencer’s acceptance remarks and
2023 Beltwide Cotton Marketer of the Year remarks :43

Listen to an interview with Kenny Melton about BASF’s involvement at Beltwide Cotton.
2023 Beltwide Cotton interview Kenny Melton, BASF 4:15