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Beyond the Rows is a Monsanto Company blog focused on one of the world’s most important industries, agriculture. Monsanto employees write about Monsanto’s business, the agriculture industry, and the farmer.avatar Monsantoco Posts

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Tag Archives: Texas

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. It’s the birthplace of rock and roll singer Buddy Holly, the country music group The Flatlanders, and actor Chace Crawford, among others. It is a city proud of its university, Texas Tech, and the Texas Tech Red Raiders have been playing college football since 1925.… Full Article »

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Originally published
November 10, 2010 by Monsantoco

Michael Marlow Monsanto Agonomist

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 is impacting crops.

But he can’t deliver those tidbits of information to everyone on a personal basis every day. That’s why he uses Twitter—a social media outlet that allows people to share thoughts in 140 characters—as one of his communication tools to update farmers … Full Article »

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Originally published
September 3, 2010 by Nick Weber

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 working on a Ph.D. She was born and raised in the St. Louis area, and she’s a city girl by anyone’s definition.

So when she and I were talking and she said she’d like to visit a farm, I thought “Why not? This could be … Full Article »

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Originally published
June 30, 2010 by Glynn Young

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 60 to 80 percent of the food in most developing countries and are responsible for half of the world’s food production.

Ball’s husband introduced her to farming seven years ago. In Plainview, Texas, her family grows corn, wheat, milo and cotton.

“I do all of … Full Article »

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Originally published
April 6, 2010 by Monsantoco

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 a high tech version of what has happened for generations. It used to be conversations at the general store or maybe the church social. It passed from neighbor to neighbor and town to town. Now, the news gets out quickly & electronically – and for … Full Article »

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Originally published
March 30, 2010 by Janice Person

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. We started by giving them a view of our facilities in the Mississippi Delta and then headed to Lubbock, TX for see the largest cotton patch & learn all sorts of things! On the way back to the Delta from Lubbock, we stopped in Dumas, … Full Article »

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Originally published
March 15, 2010 by Janice Person

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 Caprock.

But for the last several years, my amazement with the landscape has been matched with the welcoming feelings I’ve felt on my visits to the biggest cotton patch in the world. Cotton has been my “bread and butter” for a long time and … Full Article »

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Originally published
November 30, 2009 by Janice Person

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 farmers I spoke with last week. It’s a crop they can plant on the corners of their fields where the irrigation pivots can’t reach. And for some, there is a market for the crop, therefore they will grow entire irrigated fields of it. Also, it … Full Article »

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Originally published
October 20, 2009 by Monsantoco

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 impact.

Farmers I visited with last week in the Texas panhandle and Oklahoma already see the effects of farming with limited water. Although these farmers aren’t farming in a desert, it’s pretty close. Irrigation is a necessity to produce a good crop, yet the growers I talk … Full Article »

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Originally published
October 14, 2009 by Monsantoco