Latest / Conservation Stories / Conservation Starts at the Kitchen Table: Generational Wisdom & Rural Renewal with the Lyons Family

Transcript

Conservation Starts at the Kitchen Table: Generational Wisdom & Rural Renewal with the Lyons Family · Conservation Stories

• 0:00
  Speaker A: Foreign. Hey, friends, this is Hillary, Tim and Sims here again with another. Another episode of Conservation Stories. Conservation Stories is a podcast brought to you by the Sand Hill Area Research Association. And I'm excited today because speaking of Sand Hills and sand, we've got some guests here that know all about this. They are from west of Lubbock and they're farming over there almost close to New Mexico. How close are you guys to New Mexico?
• 0:31
  Speaker B: Really close. We actually farm some in New Mexico.
• 0:34
  Speaker A: Okay, not surprised. Not surprised. So Pug Lyon is here with us. Pug is on the Soil and Water Conservation District board in. Is it Morton, Cochrane County?
• 0:45
  Speaker B: Yes. I serve on the local board there, and I also serve for Area one for the association Water Conservation Districts. You know, in the state of Texas, I'm an Area 1 board member.
• 0:55
  Speaker A: Okay, that's. That, that's great. We, we've done a few, we've done a few podcasts on the Soil Water Conservation Board and its history, and we have some great educational stuff on the website. If people want to learn about the history of where that started and how important those boards are to the work that farmers are doing. And especially you want to have an NRCS office, you got to have a Soil Water Conservation Board. So they're really vital to the conservation work that happens. So I'm excited that you brought your board boys here, and we have to make sure that we get the oldest, Cade is the oldest, and then Lane is the baby by 14 minutes, I hear. So I'm so excited that you are here. This is. It's unusual to see two generations work together in a, in a change, making a change. And so I applaud you for being flexible, you know, and, and seeing what's ahead of us, you know, and looking ahead, you know, and a lot of times I think also farmers want to maybe pass it on to the next generation or include them. But also times it's hard to figure out how to make it work financially. So sometimes it's not a choice. But you guys are really blessed to, you know, have, have the situation that you have. So let. Can you give me, give me a little bit of history about your, your family, where you, you guys are from, how long have you been there and how long have you been farming?
• 2:31
  Speaker B: I grew up in, in Morton all my life. I was born and raised there. We actually live four miles down the road from where I was raised and went to school or my home where I was parents raised me and brought me to school there. Morton have been around the farm. I was raised on the farm all my life. My dad had trouble there at the end and. And went out of business, but we went. He went to work for a farmer there. So then in the summers, I started working for the same farmer. And he. He helped me get my start. That's who helped me get my start. So I started farming. When I first started farming, 96 was 600 acres, and we farm 8,000 acres now. Today is what we farm. So we've grown it. And I'm glad to see the boys, they've taken a lot of interest here these last few years and taken more ownership in the farm. And it's neat to see that, like you said, with the generational deal.
• 3:25
  Speaker A: Yeah. So that's really interesting that your neighbor, like, I mean, I've seen that a few times where, you know, the neighbor will come in. I mean, it's not. Maybe not family, but like, they're taking that interest and. Because it really matters that you have somebody to help you get off to a start.
• 3:45
  Speaker B: Absolutely. I couldn't have done. I couldn't have started without his help. I mean, he helped me and that. That's what got me my start. Because a lot of people say, well, did the family. Did it get passed on? No, it was. It was a friend that helped me get started and, you know, it was. It's good to have people that do that.
• 4:01
  Speaker A: So you guys are out of high school. Are you still in high school?
• 4:05
  Speaker C: We just graduated.
• 4:06
  Speaker A: Okay, you just gradu. Graduated. Okay, so now you get to go full time. Yeah. So tell me, are y'. All. Are y' all gonna stay around and farm or. Yeah. You gonna go to school or anything?
• 4:19
  Speaker C: Yeah, going to school in South Plains.
• 4:22
  Speaker A: Good choice. That's a great. That's a great idea. I have a couple of kids both that started out at South Plains and wound up at Tech, but, man, there's a great. It's a great pathway to Tech too. And South Plains is. Does a lot for. For that. For our area, really providing some good education and accessible. It's much more accessible. So you're going to have to. You're going to have to make way for the school schedule.
• 4:46
  Speaker B: Oh, yeah, we can. We can work around that. So. And then there's this 30 minutes away. So their schedules will allow them to. In the last few summers, every summer they've been working, they. They help take care of primary, the spraying, but they. As they figured out there's a lot of other duties, but they've kind of taken over the spraying, which is a great deal because that's a big deal in today's farming with the no till farming. Spraying is one of the most important things you do. And it's very timely and critical and they've, they've taken that ownership and it's neat to see that they understand how important.
• 5:18
  Speaker A: Yes.
• 5:19
  Speaker B: What they do is so.
• 5:20
  Speaker A: Well, I am. The reason I got contacted you yesterday was because I, I saw these two guys on a video and I saw this thing that said regenerative Texas, this is new. I thought I knew all of them. And it is new.
• 5:40
  Speaker B: It is new. This association board, association of Texas Water Conservation Districts, we kicked it off in October of 2024. Regenerative Texas, you know, go, go look it up. Go. We got a lot of new stuff coming. Some new videos are coming out and we're showcasing regenerative farming and ranching across the state of Texas. And the video, you know, go, go look it up. And we got videos coming and these guys have seen, these two boys have seen the difference of regular farming and no till regenerative farming. And they can tell you some about the differences.
• 6:15
  Speaker A: Yeah. So I'd love to hear a little bit about what you guys have seen as far as. I mean everybody says it's different, but what does that mean?
• 6:25
  Speaker C: Oh, there's a big difference.
• 6:28
  Speaker A: So is it in the amount of work? Does it take more work or less work?
• 6:33
  Speaker C: Less, I'd say less work.
• 6:34
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 6:35
  Speaker C: If you do it right or free. It may take a while for you to get there, but.
• 6:39
  Speaker A: Okay, so let's, let's role play for just a minute. So you, Lane, you have a conventional farm, okay. And you've just been farming that way. You're like watching over here with someone that's your neighbor Cade, and he is implementing this regenerative. And everybody says the word, but nobody really quite knows exactly what that means. What are you doing that he's not doing or what are you not doing that he's doing? What is it? What are you doing different?
• 7:11
  Speaker C: Part of the main thing is he's probably gonna be running his sound fighter 247 and I'm not. And I'm going to call him and tell him that he's blowing on me.
• 7:22
  Speaker A: So why do you have to run your. When you're run your Steam Fighter, you.
• 7:27
  Speaker C: Don'T got no cover.
• 7:28
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 7:28
  Speaker C: So when it rains, I mean it'll, it'll be blowing. And we've seen a lot of that.
• 7:33
  Speaker A: Oh my goodness.
• 7:34
  Speaker C: Where we are.
• 7:36
  Speaker A: Oh my goodness. My first, my first experience, I mean experience like as a child That I can remember as being aware of my environment around me was. I remember shutting the west facing door to our little farmhouse at night. And then when I went to go outside and open it, I couldn't see across over the sand.
• 7:56
  Speaker B: Right.
• 7:57
  Speaker C: Yeah, that's how. Yeah, it's about how it looks like.
• 8:00
  Speaker B: And I'll tell you, like us, we are, you know, it's hard with the amount of acres we farm but you know, like the first year we, you know, planted all cover, you know, cover crops but you know, know the wind and stuff, we couldn't get them all. They didn't all hold. So we have some conventional farming, but we want to be all, we want to be all no till, but we're working in that direction. But just like on Father's Day, you know. So everybody asks what you do for Father's Day. Well, we were on Sand Fighters and the boys actually were saying, hey, you know, they're blowing over here. And I was like, well they took off on that Sunday on Father's Day. But you can't do that, right? If you got no till, we wouldn't have been san fried. We would have had the day off.
• 8:37
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. Until I would say recently most people, you could not live without it because you that even if that's that sand can, it's just like electricity running across those plants. It just fries them. Okay, so it's, it's Father's Day and Lane is out on the sand fighter and you're out fuel and possibly labor tractor time. Right. You're away from your family. But Kate is home. He's. He's done this regenerative thing. So. Which means that you've got a cover crop now. Have you got a single species cover crop? You got one like just wheat out there?
• 9:15
  Speaker C: Yeah, you can have just wheat.
• 9:16
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 9:17
  Speaker C: That's what I would do.
• 9:18
  Speaker A: Okay, so you got your weed out there and did you, did you water that wheat to get it up? What are you doing?
• 9:24
  Speaker C: Yeah, you water it like you're going to harvest it all the way into.
• 9:28
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 9:29
  Speaker C: Before you plant, you kill it.
• 9:30
  Speaker A: My husband's uncle was doing this in the 80s. He used to call it, we used to call it farming and trash. Yep, farming and trash.
• 9:36
  Speaker B: So I've heard it called ugly farming in the past.
• 9:39
  Speaker A: Yes. Oh yes, I can remember. My, my favorite story about my grandmother is when my brother was yalls age, he got about 18, he got his first farm. And it was my grandmother's best friend and neighbor. It was their farm. Little like 30 acre farm, 60 acres, maybe. And my brother went out there to check his water. My grandmother's out there hoeing. I mean, like, she was not about to let there be anything out there but cotton. You. Yeah. So, yeah. Ugly farming. Yeah. It takes a lot to get used to that. So for you guys, then when you think about regenerative farming, to you it is. It's a no till and a cover crop. It's kind of. Those two are the, the key things for you to. Okay, so the common thing that I hear is that people don't have enough water for two crops, which, I mean, like, I'm from Terry county, like, you know what I mean? We're talking about a section of land that has 21 wells and doesn't have 200 gallons a minute.
• 10:40
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 10:41
  Speaker A: You know, so talk us through that.
• 10:42
  Speaker B: A big deal like for us is our water situation where we're at. So like we farm half irrigated, a lot of that semi irrigated because of the water, and a lot of it's dry land. Well, you have to get these landlords on, on on board with you that you go plant Milo, maybe instead of cotton. And if you get that milo crop, you have that stubble and you start work, it's not a one year. It's a. It's a process. You either get milo or you go plant that dry land. And if you get enough moisture, get it up, you might not have a cotton crop for, for three years. But when that cotton crop does come into that trash, it's going to make up for those two years prior that it's a process. You can't just. On dry land, you don't know if you're going to get enough rain to get your cover up.
• 11:22
  Speaker A: Exactly. Yeah. And you might get so little of a stand that maybe, you know, Lane here, the conventional farmers blowing and he may blow your cover out. That can happen too. Yeah. So it's a, you know, and people talk about it being, you know, multiple years process of really being able to make the transition. So what is it? Are you. Do you have to buy new equipment or you just use your traditional equipment?
• 11:49
  Speaker B: Yeah, you use your. It's. It's really like if you ever get into that process, you know, wheat drill, a planter and a sprayer, you pretty well got it covered. You know, unless you want to strip till something. I mean, it's.
• 12:00
  Speaker A: So explain that to us. What's the difference between no till and strip till?
• 12:04
  Speaker B: No till is just totally just planting into the trash. Strip till. You run a rig that moves Just that little small area where you're actually putting the seed, it just clears that area for that, for the seed bed.
• 12:16
  Speaker A: So when I was in Poland, I was there last year, and there's a company there that's created a strip till that is modular. So everything that you need throughout the year for strip tilling, you just unhook this piece and put this piece on. It's like building with Legos almost. You know what I mean? And, but that's the thing that it has five sensors on it, so it's sensing the moisture at what depth it is. And, and then it's, it is just phenomenal. And so it's putting your seed exactly where the moisture is. So it may be at one, one depth here and then another depth here, you know, where it might be moving to the right or to the left. And I know John Deere's do some of this, but this, this was pretty progressive, pretty progressive stuff. So there's a lot of that kind of trial and error going on there.
• 13:11
  Speaker B: And we're also trying to, to implement another thing. What you're saying is working is maybe planting wheat for, for harvest. And you harvest that wheat, you leave that stubble and you keep that stubble clean and then plan into it the next year. So that's that transition period where you're not going to have a cotton crop. You know, the old, old timers say, you know, they want cotton, cotton, cotton, but they've also not only the rotation of your farm, but you got to transition into this regenerative where you maybe harvest the wheat. You don't plant another crop behind that wheat, you just leave that stubble and it's just better for the land, it's better overall.
• 13:42
  Speaker A: So the economics of that course, people aren't making a lot of money on cotton anyway. Exactly. I mean, so of course this is what, regenerative. A lot of times you hear the word sustainable. That word actually came from an economist and it, it meant that it was sustainable in every way. So economically, so the man who came up with that, it would say if it's not economically sustainable, it's not sustainable. So it might be good for the environment, but if it's not, it's not going to keep you farming. You can't do it. You can't call it sustainable, which I think is interesting because the word has been kind of hijacked, right, to mean something different or who the hell knows what it means, you know. Today's episode is brought to you by Evan Stone with Clear Rock Farm and Ranch. Part of The Clear Rock Realty Group in Lubbock, Texas. Evan understands west Texas land, agriculture and what it takes to buy and sell farms and. And ranches in our unique region. If you're ready to make your next move, trust someone who knows the lay of the land. Visit Evan at clearrockrealty.com serving Lubbock and the surrounding communities, Clear Rock Farms and Ranch, your partner on the plains.
• 14:59
  Speaker B: What I say conventional versus no till. What I see is, you know, growing up like at their age. You see, okay, we planted a lot more population than we plant now because, you know, everybody's trying to cut corners. Well, you're going to probably go plant more seed per acre on the conventional because you're probably going to know you're going to lose some to sand or other issues. Where on this no till situation, if you got your no till set up correctly, you've got that cover where you can put less seed and it's protected from all the environment. So you can cut your seed cost. And that's a big cost in the operation. I mean, so it's stuff like that. You have to look at both sides.
• 15:38
  Speaker A: But so let's. So for people that are listening or watching. So what is your cost per acre for first seed?
• 15:47
  Speaker B: Roughly $50 an acre for seed cost on cotton, give or take in today's world with how high it is. And you know, that's a big, That's a big cost of your. And it's all right off the bat, you know.
• 15:59
  Speaker A: Yeah, it's right there. Before you ever get. Yeah, you're investing a big chunk right up front, but you're putting it in. I mean, almost like. You can think of that trash, the ugly stuff as almost like insurance, kind of. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you guys are planting less for acres, so you have less input costs right up off the bat. You've got less. Less fuel cost. Less. Less time on the tractor, but more time on the sprayer. Yeah. So what you're going in there because you're not going in there and plowing weeds. So you're controlling your weed population with spraying. But it is weed pressure pretty, pretty bad when you're doing no till? I mean, is it. Can you see a difference in weed pressure when there's stuff covering the ground?
• 16:49
  Speaker C: I wouldn't, I would say no.
• 16:51
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 16:51
  Speaker C: No. Or not really as much. I would, I would say.
• 16:55
  Speaker B: I, I say when you get into this program two or three years deep, I could see. I've seen no till. You know, where the wheat pressure is not as heavy as Conventional because I think it chokes it out or it does something. It does something in the soul to keep so many weeds. I mean, we're always going to have weed, weed pressure, but I don't think it will be as much when. When you get down the road and get. Get it really implemented strong.
• 17:20
  Speaker A: So how many years have you. Are you guys down this road? Where did you start?
• 17:24
  Speaker C: Oh, we. I guess when we were born in the barn.
• 17:28
  Speaker B: Really.
• 17:28
  Speaker C: I mean, we've been out there since ever.
• 17:31
  Speaker A: So y' all see, you've seen your dad transition?
• 17:33
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 17:34
  Speaker A: Yeah. Okay. So. So what year did you. What year did you transition?
• 17:38
  Speaker B: I mean, I've had some. No till in the past, but I mean, we've really transitioned just this past year to everything.
• 17:44
  Speaker A: What made you do it?
• 17:47
  Speaker B: Just watching, you know, and, you know, looking and learning, trying to say what can we do to try to know that we could sustain the farm and go down the road and, and also sitting on this association board, I was looking at some of these other ranches and then you go implement that regenerative into the. The, you know, it's not just the ranches. You can implement that on the farm. But how can we, you know, go forward? And. And another thing is farming the amount of acres we have to try to farm to make a living. We. We could not conventional farm 8,000 acres and do it good. And that's why I think another thing is getting transitioned into this notillic. We have to farm that many acres, unfortunately, with, you know, to try to make it work.
• 18:29
  Speaker A: Right.
• 18:29
  Speaker B: But we couldn't do it if it was all conventional. We. We couldn't do it. Right. Is what I would say.
• 18:34
  Speaker A: Right. And for people to understand like that that farming is such a capital intensive, intensive project with low margins. And that's why you can. It confuses, I think, consumers because they would think of that many acres as a big, you know, like corporate farming. Right. But it's really. It's a family farm. And now you may have a corporation name because who. You're a businessman, you know, so why would you not take advantage of corporate, you know, tax benefits and protections? So I think it's another good thing for people to know why you have to be so big here. Because our land is not as productive per acre. And the kind of crops that we are growing per acre not. They're just not as valuable. And unfortunately, cotton continues to, you know, process keep falling and falling.
• 19:30
  Speaker B: Right.
• 19:32
  Speaker A: So did you guys. Is this something that y', all, like, seen or heard about or did your dad come home and go, hey, we're going to do this thing.
• 19:44
  Speaker C: I think it was just more like being out there and around it. Like you're saying, oh, I'm not running a plow on this one or on this field and all this. You're just spraying it. And it looks different, too. You can just walk out there and see like, oh, this one's no too, and that one's still like, it's pretty.
• 20:00
  Speaker A: So have y' all been getting any rain?
• 20:01
  Speaker C: Oh, yeah.
• 20:02
  Speaker A: So glad.
• 20:03
  Speaker B: Thank God. It's been three days. Yeah.
• 20:06
  Speaker A: Yeah, I'm so glad. I. I didn't look at the radar this morning, but I. It looked to me like it was probably pretty. Pretty general rain. Sure do need it.
• 20:16
  Speaker B: Y' all may tell. Tell her about like, we got a good friend there. And he. He don't farm many acres, but he farms. He's been doing this. You know, one of the very first one, he rotates. He does wheat cuts. It leaves that quarter out. Plants peas or milo. And he rotates all this around. And his crops are always better in everybody around him and they've seen that. And he don't farm on a big scale, but he does it himself. And it's neat to see because he's been doing this regenerative that we're, you know, really.
• 20:45
  Speaker A: Everybody now we got a name for what he's been doing, but.
• 20:48
  Speaker B: But he don't. He don't want to talk about that. He says it's doing what you should be doing.
• 20:52
  Speaker A: Right.
• 20:52
  Speaker B: That's his.
• 20:53
  Speaker A: His book.
• 20:54
  Speaker B: And he's got into this three or four years down there. You can see the difference. I mean, and it takes a while to get into that once you get there.
• 21:02
  Speaker A: So. Did you have any issues with your bank? Did your bank say, no, you might lose money? So I don't think we can do this?
• 21:13
  Speaker B: No. I don't know of any guys that have had that trouble. But mine, I mean, I've never had the bank say, you know, you can do no till or you can. I've never had that. That part of it.
• 21:22
  Speaker A: You have 8,000 acres and how far. I mean, you've got some that hasn't come up. What. What percentage of your. Of your land you think is. Got a good stand on it is this. You have. You have seed in now, like, where this rain might help.
• 21:39
  Speaker B: We had some. We lost some crops at White facing that hailstorm a couple weekends ago. So we went back and we planted some peanuts and some mallow. And this rain, I mean, it'll be Coming up as we're going right now. But we're very fortunate because we have got more rain than normal, but most of our crops are up and growing, dryland and all. It. It really looks really good for our area right now. It just won't quit us like last year. You know, last year we looked pretty good and it just quit us in August.
• 22:08
  Speaker A: It did, yeah.
• 22:09
  Speaker B: But, yeah, we're very fortunate right now. Our crops, we. I mean, you're farming that many acres. It can't all be perfect like we want it to be, but I mean, for the most part where overall, we have a very good start.
• 22:21
  Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. Out here on the Texas plains, water is everything. And there's a resource that's as vital as it is fragile. Our Playa Lakes. These lakes are nature's reservoir, catching rainwater to recharge our aquifer and provide lifelines for wildlife. But now they need our help. In collaboration with the Texas Playa Lakes Conservation Initiative and the Cargill Global Water Challenge, SARAH has started the Our Legacy is Tomorrow's Water initiative to inspire and work with landowners to restore and protect our Playa Lakes. Each playa we save helps secure a sustainable water future for the generations that will be coming after us. Whether it's improving soil health, restoring habitats, or recharging groundwater, we are committed to making a difference. Together, we can build a legacy that we can all be proud of. To learn how you can join in, visit the Playa Lakes Restoration Initiative page on the SARAH website. Let's keep Texas water flowing strong for the future. Visit sarah-conservation.com you guys have, I'm sure, friends that are like on the farm, like, you guys are staying around, they're going to hang out, they're going to maybe take over. Y' all ever talk about this with your friends when you're, you know, cruising the Sonic or something? Not that there's a Sonic in Morton. When you're cruising, when you're cruising the all up.
• 23:57
  Speaker C: We don't have just a whole lot of friends that are like in the farm scene and all that, but, you know, there's a couple that have worked on a farm and they kind of, they're smart enough to understand that. I think if they had a choice, they would probably do no to.
• 24:12
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 24:12
  Speaker C: Just by just going around and looking, being out there.
• 24:16
  Speaker A: So what do you think keeps people from embracing the idea Change, you know.
• 24:22
  Speaker B: It'S hard to get that mentality of like that when I was a kid that's just, you know, you plow, you plow, you that's just what you did. It's, it's the change, it's the scared and then a lot of people, the water like you brought up, it does, it does take water to get that, that cover crop growing. But I think once you get it up and growing and killed, then it holds the water better. So it's the give and take. Some people are willing to take that plunge, some aren't.
• 24:47
  Speaker A: So you know, I don't know if you've seen but one of the first videos we did was with Jeremy Brown and he didn't kill his. Right. He just keeps his green and it's. I remember the first time I saw that I was like, that is like cotton in the middle of really tall multi species cover crop that's green.
• 25:09
  Speaker B: Yep.
• 25:10
  Speaker A: So interesting. So will you experiment some, do you think with those kind of things and like a little bit here, a little.
• 25:16
  Speaker B: Bit there and we, we've done some different stuff and seen some different stuff with you know, we've, we've implemented, starting to implement. We were going to go more into implementing radishes this next year. Tillage radishes which, you know, you go. Helps with the compaction, nutrients, all kind of stuff. We're going to move into that direction and we're always willing to. You go out and you learn. Like our good friends down the road, Roy and Mike Thompson at Littlefield. I mean Mike is, he's the one to go. He's, he's the leader in our area of regenerative in my. And I got to go to his farm last week and it's amazing what he's doing out here. It's amazing.
• 25:56
  Speaker A: I'd love to see that.
• 25:57
  Speaker B: That's, that's really, I mean and you look to people like that. You go look and you go learn. And like he said, when he's driving to work every day, he listens to podcasts on no till farming. He said I learned something every day and yeah man, I think Mike is one that he's a leader in our area that a lot of people he has really taken it up and it's neat to see and someone to learn from.
• 26:16
  Speaker A: I know it's hard I think sometimes for people to believe. You know, Lacey's family's been there several years in and they've done since 2017. USDA was tracking the changes in their soil because they begin to integrate cattle also and so that they don't have to use a lot of fertilizer now. And you know, they were harvesting. I remember when I was in Poland got a, you know, a call or she was texting me saying, we are harvesting almost four bales and with no fertilizer on this, you know, And I mean, that's there. They can show, like, the moisture that's holding more moisture. It's. It's like everything else. I feel like sometimes when you're trying to talk to somebody about changing and doing something different, everybody just remembers what's negative. You know what I mean? It's like, yeah, but my neighbor tried that one year and it didn't work right. You know, and so it is. Feels like we're kind of stuck in the same thing. This whole world is stuck in, which it's either one way or the other. You can't ever do anything in the middle. You can't ever say, oh, I. I might implement that, but I can implement all these, you know, some of these other things. You know, everybody has got this black and white mentality, and I like that what you're doing is, you know, it's. It's one step at a time. You've really made, you know, two steps, I guess, towards this process that people might say is a five step thing. Depends on, you know, who you listen to. Right. You know, that region is this, that or the other. Or some people say it's organic, and some people say it's not organic, you know, and so you guys, we were visiting a while ago about looking at different types of audits that you can get to participate in different types of programs. So is that something you guys think y' all might be interested in pursuing? Eventually talking to different people about what those programs are like? The Kiss the Grand program in California that you mentioned? Or J. Crew has a program and.
• 28:13
  Speaker B: Right.
• 28:14
  Speaker A: There's several out there.
• 28:15
  Speaker B: Yes, I'm. I'm always looking and trying to research those, and I'm. I hope the boys are doing the same.
• 28:22
  Speaker A: Let me tell you something. There are people looking for y'. All. I don't know if you know this or not, but, like, the people that are selling the blue jeans or the mills that are buying the cotton, they badly want to meet the farmer. They badly want to meet the farmer, and they want to reconnect. You know, we're. We've. That the supply chain is so now segregated, and they want to go back to, you know, who. Who are we buying from? And when you build those kind of relationships, you know, you. You can have the assurance that they're getting what they want, you know, and.
• 28:59
  Speaker B: I hope this generation will pick it up and do a Better job than I've seen done is we need to tell our story. We're bad about telling our story. Farmers want to go. Whatever they do, whether it's no tilt, whatever they successful, whatever they don't want to tell you, we got to get back to where you tell your story.
• 29:17
  Speaker A: Yeah, I agree. I think a lot of it is sometimes people are like, you know, don't tell anybody I'm growing this because, like, we can flood the market in a single season kind of thing. But this is not. This isn't that kind of thing, you know? And I don't know, I mean, how much you guys have listened to the podcast, but we. There's a young man from Plainview that we've interviewed a couple of times, and Leighton, he has a. He's open to grocery store in Plainview, and I think they've got like 20 acres or something. Go back and listen to this podcast. Because he's like, I couldn't grow enough strawberries. Like, there is such a huge demand for strawberries, you know, and so there's things like that that we've just never. We haven't embraced, because we have embraced. We've embraced this big instead of this, you know, smaller, you know, And I saw it happen in Terry county as we converted, you know, to grapes. And so that single county grows, like, probably 85, 90% of all the grapes in the state of Texas, you know, and so they. My brother in particular started because he's like, man, I don't have the water for a cotton crop anymore, but I could put in, you know, something that's higher value, you know, and so. But you. There again, you just have to have that. So idea of, like, what. What's the market? Like, where am I going to sell it? And those kind of things. But I think you guys are right. At that age of you probably still have the energy to pursue those kind of things and those kind of ideas. But I would. I would listen to that. He is. He's really great, and he's super great about, like, hey, you want to see how much profit I make? Here you go. You want to know how I'm doing it? Here you go. Because he says there is room for a lot more. The demand is high, you know, and Covid really showed us, right, that we're. We're subject to supply chain issues. Really badly. Yeah, really badly. But I. I applaud you guys. I. I would really like to hear from you, Pug, some about what you guys, what is your. Your ideas for regenerative Texas. So it was started by the association.
• 31:21
  Speaker B: Association started it in October 24th. And we're just, you know, really wanting to the. What we're talking about while ago about, you know, get people to tell their story on your ranches, on your farms and, and the transitions, like what we're trying to transition into and, and the benefits. And we just thought, you know what, this is where we think everybody's headed or it's really taken, you know, taking a hold and the association is really pushing that. And, and at the state meeting, you know, we're going to roll out a big video from, you know, all, all around the state, you know, people stories of ranches, you know, because it's so much, you know, different around the state of Texas. But we got a big video coming in September.
• 31:59
  Speaker A: So let's talk for just a minute about the districts. And so if people go back and listen to some of the videos about the history and how they're set up and established and stuff. Lubbock has a soil water conservation board and we have. Most of our land in Lubbock county is considered urban. I think just some on the north. The north is not urban. But people here can participate in ways. By buying trees.
• 32:31
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 32:31
  Speaker A: So every year these districts sell trees in the spring and these are natives that they sell at a great price. And you know, and it's a way for people to support because you guys, each one of these boards, each one of your districts are. You're on their own to raise their range funds. Now there's some funds they can get through the national association. Right. You know, but pursuing that, it's often. Right. You don't. It's all volunteer and if you can get enough money to get somebody paid to do the day to day stuff, it's fabulous. But sometimes it's hard to raise those funds. So I really would. What would you say? Or other ways that people can become aware of what the district does.
• 33:15
  Speaker B: You know, if you get interested, you know, go to the meetings. They're open meetings. Go visit with those board members and ask them what is Yalls district doing. You know, we do a lot of help in our schools, you know, trying to reach out to the kids and educate kids because we just feel like agriculture is. It's not like it was when I was a kid. Everybody was into agriculture when I, when I was a kid at, you know, school age in today's world, those kids are not educated on agriculture like, like we were back then. And I think we've got away from that and I Think it's very important we move back in that direction.
• 33:46
  Speaker A: And I know I've seen the, the National association association creates some amazing curriculum and every year they have like some type of field day or something and, or you know, it's an emphasis. Like this year it was like habitats and you can buy, you can get from them all of the, the things to do, the crafts and things to do with the school kids and that kind of stuff. There's a lot that's available and I think to your point, going to these meetings. So I know, I'll put it in the, I'll put it the link in, in the show notes. Maybe for Lubbock and for Cochrane county, like when they meet. Yes, because I know Lubbock meets. It's early in the morning, like 7:30 on a Wednesday and it's every month. And you know, people that have houses that they've built on 10 acres, this is a great, you know, opportunity for them to say, okay, how can I, what can I do conservation wise? How can I conserve water? Maybe not. I don't want to put 10 acres of Bermuda grass in.
• 34:46
  Speaker B: Right.
• 34:47
  Speaker A: You know, but I also don't want a whole bunch of stickers, you know, so this is the place to go to get that kind of information.
• 34:55
  Speaker B: And that's also the place to go to buy, like you said earlier, your wind. Windbreak trees for your house. And it's a good place to learn about all kind of conservation if you're looking in that or just go learn about other. What other other people are doing.
• 35:07
  Speaker A: It's good. Yep. And so. And then we'll have a regional meeting in, in the Lubbock area, maybe in September.
• 35:15
  Speaker B: It's the state meetings in September next year we're going to be hopefully going to be coming out and we'll go on a ranch tour and farm tour.
• 35:23
  Speaker A: Right.
• 35:23
  Speaker B: The dates aren't set up on that yet, but I'm. Look, we're coming to Area 1. You got to move around the area, every area in the state. Next year the. One of the meetings will be coming out here and we're.
• 35:34
  Speaker A: That's great. That's great. Well, and that's something that we've talked about too. Like we think it'd be really advantageous to have a farm tour for people that live in Lubbock. Oh yes, because they can. We could take folks out and they can see a vineyard, they can see a winery, but they can also see peanuts, peanut harvesting, cotton. Cotton harvesting and cotton ginning. And I mean, like there's Some amazing things that is. That affects every. Everybody's every day here.
• 36:01
  Speaker B: Yes, ma'.
• 36:02
  Speaker A: Am. Well, guys, I. I wish you hadn't talked so much during this time, but, you know, some people, they just hog the conversation. Thanks. Good luck to you guys and let. How about we get back at the end of the year and see what your harvest was like? And I'd love to hear, like, how. How things are going with landlords and how they're feeling about stuff. We got friends that they had bale and a half on dry land, cotton last year and got as much rain as everybody else did that, you know, had insurance. And so there's things that people, you know, you can do that you've got to think about them differently, for sure.
• 36:42
  Speaker B: You got to educate them. We got to educate them on our. On what we're doing. That's the hardest thing, you know, because that change of going from the normal to what we're doing and understanding the transition, that you've just got to help educate them if they're willing to do that.
• 36:54
  Speaker A: That. Right, Right. Well, thanks for. Thank you. And thank you to the association for Creating Regenerative Texas. And we. We as an. An organization, love to, you know, help promote and do whatever we can to. To support you guys, come alongside you. That's what we're here for. So not reinvent the wheel, but support what's already there. And I will get back with you and we can as you've got more to report about what's happening and things that are coming up, and then we'll get back and maybe you guys. I'll let y' all talk a little bit more. So thanks, friends. Thanks for joining us again for another episode of Conservation Stories. I hope that you found this helpful and I hope that you will share this with your friends. And before we go, are you both still single? Yes.
• 37:46
  Speaker C: It's hard for me because, you know.
• 37:50
  Speaker A: Okay, well, just saying, you might share this with all the single ladies. See, I told you guys. I try to embarrass you. Thanks again, friends. Bye.