It’s Coming Up Cotton in Texas
It sits on the Llano Estacado, the “staked” or “palisaded” plains in the southwestern U.S., one of the largest mesas on the continent. Spanish conqusitadors roamed here; a number of native American peoples like the Apaches, the Comanches and the Kiowa lived here. It is Lubbock, founded in 1876 and named for a Texas Ranger. [...]
Monsanto Agronomist Helps Farmers 140 Characters at a Time
As an agronomist, Monsanto’s Michael Marlow has to be on top of the field conditions in his territory, which includes most of Oklahoma and northern and eastern Texas. It’s in his best interest—and his customers’ best interests—to know when plant diseases are popping up, when bugs are starting to move into fields and when weather [...]
Sending the “City Girl” on Assignment to a Farm
Raegan Johnson is a member of my work team. If you don’t know her, I can tell you that she’s friendly, polite, deferential; well, maybe I should say friendly and usually polite and leave it at that. What you may not know is that she has some “magna cum laudes” after her degrees and she’s [...]
The Female Side of Farming – Don’t Underestimate It
By Raegan Johnson They’re there from sun up to sun down, operating machinery, cleaning equipment—whatever needs to be done. Tonya Ball, said they work just as hard—if not harder—than most of the boys. They are female farmers, and their role in agriculture is more significant than some may think. FAO estimates that women produce between [...]
Optimism in an Out of Office Message
Friday afternoon I was trying to reach a coworker. I looked on the office instant messaging system and a rush came over me – there was an out of office message saying he was planting just outside of Corpus Christi, Texas. Immediate reaction? Pick up the phone and call to see how it’s going! It’s [...]
Video:One in a Million, One in 700, or Even Better Odds?
Several years ago, I had the opportunity to host a group of guests from Greece for a tour of the U.S. The group was made up of cotton ginners, textile mill personnel, a few agronomists and others in the Greek cotton industry. I ended up being the person who accompanied the group throughout their tour. [...]
Video: A Feeling of History & Innovation, Independence & Community
The landscape differences never strike me harder than when I go to the High Plains. Whether I’m driving or flying into Lubbock, TX the view is staggering. From the sky, you can make out circles where crops are planted. On the highway, you notice the dramatic change in altitude as you drive up onto the [...]
Video: Getting to Know Grain Sorghum in TX and OK
By Tyne Sorghum is a crop I saw very rarely where I grew up in Missouri. In fact, a few years ago my cousins decided to grow a few fields of it and I had to call and ask them what it was. Grain sorghum (or milo) is nothing new to the Texas and Oklahoma [...]
How Texas Farmers are Working with the H20 They Have
By Tyne Morgan Benjamin Franklin once said: “When the well is dry, we know the worth of water.” We all need water to survive, as do our crops. We hear all the time about the depletion of water tables, yet I don’t think farmers in areas where moisture is abundant truly understand its [...]
