Wofford Benjamin "Bill" Camp (1894–1986) was a USDA agronomist who played an instrumental role in the development of corporate farming, particularly of cotton, in California.
[2] Soon after arriving at the USDA station at Shafter in Kern County, California,[3] Camp began to experiment with 96 different varieties from different sources worldwide.
[1] He determined that Egyptian Pima cotton was the superior option and quickly developed widespread production, managing to generate successful crops within the year in 1917 and again in 1918.
He used USDA money to bring James S. Townsend to California to adapt the cotton gin to the fine lint of Acala #8.
[4] Having briefly left the USDA to work for the Bank of Italy in 1928, Camp returned in 1933 to oversee the cotton program in the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, part of the New Deal.