In October, I visited Gaines County, Texas, where I spent the day with Western Peanut Growers Association Executive Director Robbie Blount and the association’s President Otis Johnson. Robbie had invited representatives from the offices of Senator John Cornyn (Caleb Cobb) and Senator Ted Cruz (Bobbi Hanson) to tour the area, so when I reached out looking for a harvest story, Robbie invited me to join along.
We started the day at South Plains Implement where Scotty Johnson talked about supply chain issues and the rising cost of equipment. Next, we visited Chuck Rowland’s farm where Chase, his son, talked to us about the season while peanut digging was underway. Bobbi and Caleb each took a turn riding in the tractor watching over their shoulder as the digger uprooted and overturned each plant. I savored being in the field, as harvest is my favorite time of year, and smelling the freshly turned soil behind the digger.
Next, we traveled to Lea County, New Mexico, not far from the Rowlands’, where we met up with Gary and Karen Jackson to watch chile harvest. This was a first even for me. We watched as the large, sweet, bright red chiles were stripped from the stalk through a header that looks similar to a cotton stripper. While Bobbi and Caleb each made a round in the cab, I made my way down turnrows photographing and videoing the process.
Following lunch at the Jackson’s headquarters near Seminole, we traveled to one of their peanut fields where we watched the next phase of peanut harvest — thrashing. After Bobbi and Caleb rode the combine, we got to make a quick stop at another of the Jackson’s pepper fields. This time, though small, these peppers packed a punch. You could actually smell the heat or the spice in the field. These peppers will be used for medicinal purposes.
Our final destination was Trico Peanut–Texas’s first and only farm-to-fork peanut facility. It not only serves as a buying point for the region’s producers, where the peanuts are cleaned, sorted, shelled and shipped, but this year it expanded into roasting, packaging and selling them as well. Some are salted, others are flavored. Be on the lookout for Texas Roasting peanuts in a store near you.
What a great day watching Robbie and Otis tell agriculture’s story through Scotty, Chase, the Jacksons and the folks at Trico. Not only did Bobbi and Caleb get to hear firsthand the ups and downs and ins and outs of agriculture, but they also experienced a glimpse of it.
As farm bill discussions are underway, we can’t miss an opportunity to invite, inform and experience what it is we do. Reading about it and analyzing an infographic are one thing. Getting your boots dirty is another.
I guess you could say it’s campaign season for agriculture. Invite someone to experience what it is we do. This is a fight we can’t afford to lose.
Western Peanut Growers Association and Gaines County producers give Senators Cruz and Cornyn representatives an inside look at the farm and industry.
