Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
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grow up fairly big before we go out and turn it under. That's just reseeding
because the [harvest] combines are throwing it over your way. And that's a
great fertilizer. You turn it under the next year. So you get the crop plus the
fertility the next year.”
Allen adds,“We've been raising buckwheat, wheat,millet, and alfalfa. And
hay millet; we are going to try to get it in this year, too. Hay millet for cattle.”
Cliff describes how they can earn more by doing most of the finishing work
on farm, as opposed to many conventional growers who deal with more
“middlemen” because they simply “dump” their grain in an elevator. “A lot
of our crops are shipped clear to Europe, but we clean it and seal it and
do it all here before it ships out.” Allen adds, “Yeah, with a spray cleaner.”
Naioma describes the equipment. “That is a new innovation. We bought
parts of it in Canada.” Cliff goes on, “And then our container loaders stick
them in containers.” Naioma says, “That's a piece of equipment Allen and
Cliff invented.” Allen says, “We rebuilt the cleaner, too, because they didn't
have it set up right for our sized grains. We ran around here for six months
until we finally got it right.”
Naioma sums up the economic aspects of this work: “So I think that has
made a difference with our sales. Allen is cleaning the millet and then using
this loader to shoot it into the containers and fill the bulk head, and then
it's sealed.” Allen says, “It's like a Salad Shooter to load the containers. We
want to patent it.”Naioma takes us a bit farther in the process: “It goes from
here onto the truck, then railed from Denver to the East.” Allen says, “And
it depends. It goes to either the Canadian port or the Houston port.” Allen
describes some of the paperwork associated with exporting organic crops:
“We have a broker, but we still have to do the shipper's declaration and all
that stuff. Every commodity has its own special serial number, so they know
what it is with the serial number off the shipper's declaration.” Cliff is glad
to have handed this chore to his son. “I'm glad I don't have to toy with that
anymore.”
But simply listing the crops they grow does not paint a full picture.
There are multiple varieties, plus specialty crops and seeds grown, and each
sold to numerous grain brokers or other distributors. Allen downplays it.
“Mostly we're doing hard red winter wheat.” Naioma elaborates. “You do
two or three varieties, though.”AndAllen admits the complexity of his work.
“Three varieties and I sell it to different people. Sometimes people just want
the one special variety.” Naioma prods, “Now you're in there planting a
new variety.”Allen says, “Yeah, a couple hundred acres of hard white winter
wheat. It's high protein, and it goes to Denver.” Naioma notes, “The seed is
incredibly expensive. And that's a patented seed, so he has to sign a contract
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