Farming on Mars

IMPORTANT NOTE: Interview recorded on August 22
Jerry Cave is a farmer from the Flower Grove-Ackerly area. He talks about coming back to the farm after his service in the Army, stories from his life as a dryland farmer, and advice for younger farmers.
Podcast Music: Kody West "Melody

Dwight Roye is a farmer in the Ralls area and along with his two sons, he is the co-owner/operator of Beta Ag, Inc., a custom application business that also sells seed and fertilizer. He talks about the golden years of irrigation in Crosby County, some equipment history (sandfighters, buster planters, etc.), and why technology will become even more vital to the cotton industry on the South Plains.

Joseph Burke, a graduate student working on his PhD in soil science at Texas A&M University with two degrees from Texas Tech University (wreck 'em!), talks about his winding path to soil science and his research on the Texas High Plains.
Music: Kody West "Melody" (used with permission)

James & Lacey Todd, both lifelong agriculturists on the South Plains who run an independent crop consulting business in the Plainview area, talk about the role of a crop consultant on the farm, as well as where the balance lies between progress and tradition in agriculture.
Music: Kody West "Melody" (used with permission)

Melba Ware moved to Cone, TX with her parents and siblings (one of them being my dad's dad) in 1920. She recounts moving to the plains, family history, and how farming had progressed at that time in this interview. Melba would have been 70 at the time of this recording. Recorded January 1980 in Cone and interviewed by Richard Mason. Received a copy from the Southwest Collection on the Texas Tech University Campus.