A Life of Cotton

If I ever write my autobiography, the first line will be, “My earliest memory is of cotton.”  My playpen was in the front room of a cotton gin office.  I knew the farmers who brought their cotton to my dad’s gin so well that I thought of all of them as my “uncles.”  I always loved the clink-clank sound made by the big black weights of the old manual scale when a trailer load of cotton pulled over the deck.  When I heard that sound, I knew one of my “uncles” was about to come in and if I was lucky, they would buy a 5 cent soft drink in a thick green glass bottle from the old red soda machine and give me the first sip.

The Paymaster Gin in Ackerly that  was ran by my Grandpa Earl, about 1956

The Paymaster Gin my Dad ran in Brown, about 1959

The new Paymaster Gin my Dad built between Ackerly and Brown, about 1966

  
My Grandpa, Earl Brasher, was a cotton gin manager from the 1920's.  My Dad, Dan Brasher, was the youngest gin manager that Paymaster had ever hired when he became the manager of the Brown Gin at 21 years old in 1956.  Being the daughter of a second generation cotton ginner, and now married to a multi-generational cotton farmer, I consider the excitement of that first load of cotton as the beginning of the best time of the year, time to harvest and gin cotton! The local newspapers will run a little story each year of the farmer who harvests the first bale of cotton in the county, sometimes with a photo of the farmer and ginner standing with the actual bale of cotton.  I can't seem to find it, but I remember my Dad standing beside one of his smiling farmers in one of those little newspapers.

My Dad playing in front his his Dad's gin in Truscott, Texas, about 1945

Me and my little sister, Cindy, playing in front of our Dad's gin, the Ackerly-Brown Gin, about 1968

Growing up on my Dad's gin yard is about as good as it gets when you are a kid.  There were endless places to play hide and seek up and down the rows of cotton trailers and bales of cotton. Later, much to my Dad's dismay, those same places made for great motorcross trails for a bunch of Junior High kids on dirt bikes! While rummaging through the old photos, I came across a letter of reference for my Grandpa Earl.  Seems he was a mighty good gin manager back in the early 30's. 

Part of a letter about my Grandpa Earl from 1931.

Me and my Grandpa Earl about 1961

My seasons are not marked by a calendar, but by watching all the different colors that paint across the fields of cotton throughout the year.  Bright crayon green as it peeks up out of the ground in the spring.  Soft butter yellow flowers that turn baby girl pink, then just briefly a gem stone purple before falling off as it produces the boll in the summer.  Deep olive green and rusty red leaves as fall approaches.  Crispy brown and bridal gown white as the bolls pop open to dry in the sunshine, waiting for the best time of the year, time to harvest and gin cotton.  I have been wrapped in the the fabric of our lives quite literally my entire life, and what a beautiful, colorful life it is.

Since this is for Father's Day, here are a couple more photos of my Dad.  He was not just a gin manager, he loved big trucks and fast race horses too!  Make sure to listen to this link for a great song from my son, Billy Dan Langley, singing about Paymaster with a video showing some great footage of my Dad's gin and a community cotton harvest he organized for a friend fighting cancer:  Workin' for the Paymaster  

*Adapted from a blog I wrote for my friend Janice Person on A Colorful Adventure.

Dad finally got his own big truck to haul the cotton bales to the compress, 1980

One of Dad's horses, Ka Cee Bim, in the winner's circle at Sunland Park, 1981

Lessons From Spain

My first ever Guest Blogger is none other than my amazing Niece, Jayci Cave.  Jayci is a Senior at Texas Tech University (GUNS UP!!) majoring in Ag Communications with a minor in Ag Economics.  She is the daughter of a third-generation cotton farmer and the grand-daughter of a second generation cotton ginner, so like her Aunt Suzie, she has been surrounded by cotton since the day she was born.  This summer, Jayci spent time in Spain learning about their agriculture from the field to the market place.  She has shared some of her experiences here and has related them back to our beloved West Texas Cotton.

Jayci in a vineyard in Spain

Agriculture.  This one word has many different meanings and every person associates it with something specific to their lives. For me, when I think of agriculture I think of family, hard work, good values, cotton, school, and Spain. Yes you heard me correctly, Spain. 

            My father is third generation dry-land cotton farmer in West Texas. Before this summer, agriculture was something I associated with being home and cotton farming. I am a senior at Texas Tech University pursuing a degree in agricultural communication with a minor in agriculture economics. My education is another one of the many faces I put on agriculture. 

            Now, let’s get back to Spain. When most people think of Spain they probably think of flamenco dancing, Spanish food, or even the beautiful architecture. For me, however, Spain holds a very different meaning. This past June, I had the opportunity to study abroad in Seville, Spain. While there I took two agricultural economics classes, Farm and Ranch Management and Agricultural Marketing. From now on, I will forever associate Spain with agriculture. 

The vineyard "Vinicola"

          While we were in Spain, we had the opportunity to study the industry and look at the different aspects of agriculture. Not only were we able to look at the farming side of things, but also how the products were marketed and how both differed from the practices in the United States. 

            We saw a lot of high-value agriculture while in Spain. Although, we did see a couple of cotton fields, vineyards and olive orchards were much more prominent. We also had the opportunity to visit a strawberry farm, olive press, winery, hog farm, and a ham processing facility. 

What an amazing experience!

             Cotton is a commodity, which means in order to successfully make a living; a large amount of land is needed. With grapes, however, they are a high value product. The vineyard/winery we visited was a cooperative. The cooperatives 400 members own and manage both the cooperative and the winery, which purchase their product. Each member farms around two to six hectares of land; a hectare is approximately two and a half acres. The producers rely solely on the plants to be rain fed and land in the region we visited costs around $13,000 per hectare. When looking at land and production costs, maintaining a vineyard is fairly inexpensive. How nice would it be if a cotton farmer could be successful under these same conditions? 

Non-irrigated grapes!!

             When comparing this operation to those in Texas the first obvious difference is that Texas wineries are not cooperatives. Another major difference is most Texas vineyards are irrigated. The weather does not allow them to be rain fed like the vineyard we toured in Spain. Other than irrigation techniques, most of the farming practices in Spain are very similar to those in the United States. However, the producers in Texas also farm somewhat larger plots. The average plot size is between five and ten acres. One winery in Texas may only get grapes from around 20 producers, while the cooperative in Spain has around 400 members. This is a significant difference in the size of the wineries. 

Barrels and Barrels of Spanish Wine!

             Studying in Spain allowed me to broaden my view of agriculture. When thinking of the word agriculture now, along with my family and cotton, I think of my adventures in Spain and the different aspects of agriculture I was exposed to during my time in Spain.

            What does the word agriculture mean to you?

Cotton Farming doesn't take a winter holiday

Since we are in the dead of winter out here next to the Chihuahuan Desert, one might think that I see a lot more of the Farmer I Kiss.  After all, what would a cotton farmer do while it's too cold to grow cotton?  If I could find him, I would ask him!  So I decided to head out to the farm.

The Dirt Mover!!  Reminds me of a Transformer movie.

When I finally found Daniel, he was in his tractor with a big yellow dirt mover repairing the terraces that were damaged this fall when we had over 10 inches of rain. When fields have slopes to them, these terraces are built, which are really just small dirt dams all running parallel in the field allowing us to harvest and hold the rainwater and topsoil.  The parts of the fields that hold the water in front of the terraces had over filled after the "Hundred Year Rain Event" and finally broken through creating wash-outs which allowed the water to fill up in front of the next terrace.  

Wash out over knee high

Wash flowing into our coastal grass field

Luckily the terraces on the lower end of the field were big enough so that we didn't lose the water and topsoil.  Our coastal grass field caught the water on the other side (which means we should make some really great hay this spring!) 

Hay Hay Hay this spring!

Now comes the slow task of repairing each of the wash-outs without creating holes in the field.  And I do mean S-L-O-W!  One bucket at a time, Daniel finds soil from the right spot and slowly bumps his way back up the field to put the load in the wash-out.  Moving two inches of soil across the terraces on 200 acres of land, one bucket at a time, is certainly not as fast as those old Tonka Trucks used to be in my back yard.  Carefully repairing the terraces can take several weeks in order to not cause damage to other parts of the field.

Small wash out already repaired

Once the the wash outs are filled in, the soil must be put back into condition for raising cotton.  Daniel will hook his tractor to the chisel plow and plow the field from top to bottom.  The chisel plow is 20 feet wide and plows only about 3 to 4 inches deep.  This will only skim the top to loosen the soil and break up all the tractor and harvester tracks from the previous year.

Repaired terrace after running the chisel plow

After the farm has been chiseled, Daniel will hook his tractor on to the lister, a plow that makes beds, or rows, in the soil about 6 inches tall.  He will lay off nine 40 inch rows at a time.  These rows follow the contours of the terraces and also help to hold the precious rainfall we hope to receive this spring.

Hooking onto the lister

  Daniel has found by trial and error over the past 40 years that this minimum tillage combination of shallow chiseling and forming rows works good to keep the top soil from blowing before the cotton is planted and to keep the surface moisture available.  There are some no-till farms in the area, but they are not having the success with cotton that minimum tillage is having.  The desert environment is presenting challenges for no-till that hopefully will be worked out, such as heavy grass infestation and surface moisture that sinks with the extreme heat. For now, our minimum tillage practice can require less herbicide usage than the no-till and the rows help to keep the surface moisture closer to the top for sprouting the newly planted seed.  We normally have only two herbicide applications per year and replace other needs for herbicide applications with spot tillage for weed control.  Daniel likes to have a conventional practice that balances the lowest chemical inputs and lowest tillage instead of going completely one direction or another. 

When all the repairs, conditioning and rows have been completed on the first farm, it all has to happen on the next farm, then the next farm...so if I hope to see the Farmer I Kiss this winter, I will have to hitch a ride in his tractor (which happens to be a great place to steal one of those famous farmer kisses!)

All this...to be here again next fall!

To see more about our soil and water practices, check out our earlier blog  Maybe the most important harvest of all.

Also follow us on our Facebook page as we start a new year of raising cotton on the edge of the largest desert in North America  Kissed A Farmer

It's Still Cool to be Grown In The USA: Buying Local Food

Much ado is made these days about buying "local" food.  I was confused at first, wondering why I wasn't buying local food. What was I missing?  Here I am a Texan and I buy my oranges from Florida farmers and my strawberries from California farmers!  After several back porch conversations on this subject with the Farmer I Kissed, I discovered that I do buy local.  It's just that my "local" runs from sea to shining sea.  I buy food from American Farmers.  I consider that about as local as you can get. 

We grow cotton...doesn't make for a really great bar-b-q menu!

What I wonder is when did we all stop being neighbors...when did it stop being cool to buy "Grown in the USA?"  I have traveled a lot and met American Farmers from many different states.  They are all just like the Farmer I Kiss: hard working family farmers.  So when I buy cranberries, blueberries and potatoes,  I buy "local"  from someone like the farmers I have met from Maine or Georgia or Idaho.  It doesn't matter to me if my cranberries, blueberries and potatoes come from their farms, from their friend's farms, or from their brother's farms.  I trust that my cranberries, blueberries and potatoes were raised by American Farmers who love the land, care about my food and adhere to strict, regulated  guidelines while raising that food.  Besides, we are cotton farmers living on the edge of the Chihuahuan Desert!  We can't raise cranberries, blueberries or potatoes.  Someone tell me how the heck you have a 4th of July picnic without cranberry Jell-O surprise, blueberries decorating the cake and Mom's potato salad? 


Can't have a proper 4th of July picnic without this!!

There are lots of folks who want to personally know the farmer who grows their food so they can know how he raises that food.  I think that's cool.  I could get up at 6:00 AM on Saturday and stand in line to buy tomatoes from one of my friends who sells his garden produce at the Concho Valley Farmers Market.  Frankly, I would rather sleep.  I know farmers, I kiss one of them and I trust the kind of people who are out there raising my food and fiber all across this incredible nation.  I also trust that agriculture will continue to adapt and change to answer American's needs and concerns so that once again everyone can feel as good as I do about buying "Grown in the USA" anywhere and everywhere across America. As for right now,  I'm going shopping, to a grocery store, to buy "local" pineapples from the farmer I actually met while I was in Hawaii (or who knows, maybe it will be from one of his friend's pineapple farms.)  I'm going to use it in my frozen drink this afternoon as I help the Farmer I Kissed get our back porch cleaned up for that 4th of July Picnic.


Happy Birthday America!

It will be a circus without the safety net: Crop Insurance under attack

Family Farmer: The Next Generation

The Farmer I Kissed is one of my clients.  You see, I am not only a farmer kisser, I am a crop insurance agent.  I have been in this business for 20 years.  In all those years, 2011 was the most hectic time I have ever experienced.  100% of my clients had losses, and most of those were total losses.  The majority of my clients are dryland cotton farmers, just like Daniel and I.  The seed that they planted in June finally sprouted in September. Until then, they were lying in dry, dry dirt, in the same condition as when they came out of the bag.  With that said, let's visit the Fortune Teller at the circus and imagine yourself in this situation:  Through no fault of your own, you will receive no income for 12 months.  None. 

That's what it was like to be a farmer in Texas last year.  The tight rope broke, and there was no cotton to harvest, no cotton to take to the gin, no cotton to sell to the merchant.  Enter, the safety net:  Crop Insurance.  Crop insurance is not like you homeowners insurance, where you have a small deductible, say $2500, and if your house burns down, insurance pays for the rest to build you a new house.  The deductibles on a crop insurance policy can be up to 50% of your crop.  That means, in 2011, you would collect 50% of an average crop through an insurance indemnity.  So the tight rope broke, you landed in the safety net, instead of zero you have 50% of your income and at least you are not selling the farm. But you have half your income to meet 100% of your obligations AND somewhere in there you have to prepare for next year's crop.  Land leases don't stop just because there was no crop produced.  Equipment payments don't stop.  The land still has to be cared for, to keep it from eroding, blowing or growing up in weeds.  Thank goodness for that safety net!  It's the only reason the majority of Texas farmers are getting to plant cotton this year!

Family Farmer: The Next Generation

What would happen, if that safety net were taken away?  The land will still be there, food and fiber must still be produced (or we will be hungry and naked pretty fast!) Who could start producing our food and fiber on that land without a safety net?  It wouldn't other family farmers, like the one I kiss.  They would be out of business too.  It would be huge management firms, overseas investors, financial institutions.  We don't want to be in the stands watching that three ring circus.  We MUST keep our family farmers on the land.  Everyone needs to understand, there are many different kinds and sizes of family farmers.  But the key is that they ARE "family farmers" and care deeply about the land and about what they produce for the kitchen tables across this country.

Family Farmer: The Next Generation

Crop insurance is a public-private cooperation.  Private companies deliver a product overseen and regulated by the USDA's Risk Management Agency.  It is a highly successful program that has been duplicated in other countries around the world.  Keeping our food and fiber supply stable and affordable is a matter of national security, so the government aspect is essential.  But right now, an assault is being carried out against the safety net by some of those in Congress that don't realize what would happen if family farmers gave way to the circus.  An assault on the farm safety net is a direct assault on the family farmer.  If amendments being presented are passed, the cuts and limits to crop insurance would cut the wires, leaving the family farmer walking the tight rope without a safety net.  When that happens and we see another 2011 disaster, send in the clowns folks, the circus just hit town.