The images of broken water pipes and people lining up to get fresh water filled the airwaves and newspapers as residents of the Southwest worked to dig themselves out of some of the coldest weather on record. But what about the farms and ranches hit by that same weather?
Temperatures dropped into the single digits during the second week of February and yet a week later, they rose back into the 70s. We wanted to get a closer look, so we turned to Shelley Huguley, Southwest Farm Press, for her insight, and while she found plenty of bad news, there was one silver lining.
Happy New Year! We re wrapping up 2020 with a little look back on some favorite stories or hot topics from last year that could be something to watch in 2021.
First up, Shelley Huguley, Southwest Farm Press, refuses to be held to just one of her favorites, so she picks three. What she shares is fun, informative and heartfelt.
Jennifer Kiel, American Agriculturist, offers a discussion about regenerative agriculture, which started with a story she did in 2020 and expects to keep following this year. She notes that for the idea to succeed regenerative agriculture must offer one feature – profit for the farmer.
Recently, I laid out 19 of the 21 Southwest Farm Press issues from this past year on my office floor. Seeing each of the faces, the families, the topics that make each issue unique, reminds me of why I love my job. What a privilege to meet producers and visit their farms, or interview specialists and ag industry folks or feature a young person from across the Southwest and tell their story.
I especially enjoy capturing those people in photographs or video. I love how a photo gives the written word a face. Photos are powerful storytellers.
Shelley E. Huguley
Some of my favorites from 2020? Emily Branson. She s the college-aged artist featured in the Aug. 6 issue. I traveled to the Texas Rolling Plains to interview two producers about their 2020 cotton crop and was introduced to Emily after I left the first farm, headed to the second. Emily was in downtown Roby painting a cotton mural on the side of her parent s building as
Texas Plant Protection Association
Texas Plant Protection Association 2020 Norman Borlaug Lifetime Achievement Award presented to Bob Whitney, center, by TPPA Board Chairman Ray Smith, left, and Scott Nolte, TPPA board member and chair of the TPPA Awards Committee. Texas Plant Protection Association honors members with awards at virtual conference.
Bob Whitney, De Leon, Texas, has spent a lifetime teaching others about agriculture in the U.S. and in 26 countries. But he ll humbly tell you all he does is bridge a gap. You ve been in situations where somebody needed to know what to do, and you provided that for them? Well, I ve always looked at it like I m standing between technology and the need, and my job is to make sure I know the technology, so that whenever the need arises, I can meet it, Whitney says.