Producer Profiles
D. H. Brewster
D. H. Brewster was raised in Spur, Texas. During World War II, he trained men to use dive bombing electronic equipment. D. H. and Ruth, his wife of 55 years, moved from Amherst to Wildhorse Valley near Van Horn, Texas in 1952. In 1970 he purchased the gin near his farm. Today he oversees about four and a half sections of land. Much of the land is now enrolled in the CRP Program. The operation includes land farmed by his son Lane and son-in-law Forrest Perry. D. H. also assist’s his neighbor, John Conoly, with his farming operation. This year the operation includes about three hundred acres of organic cotton.
Wildhorse Valley is located to the northwest of Van Horn. Mountains border the flat dry floor of the valley. Irrigation is essential in the valley. The valley grows a great deal of alfalfa to sell to dairies in the area. Many of the wells in the valley are drilled to about 500 feet, but draw water from about 260 feet. The wells will produce from 1,000 to 3,000 gallons per minute.
Normally, D. H. likes to plant in early to mid April. This year he planted about a month later than normal. He did his deepbreaking with a disk, rather than a moldboard. He believes the disc-breaking plow tuned the soil over better than the moldboard. On one field, the Brewsters took the nozzles off of the drop lines on the pivot before he prewatered. When he prewatered, the water shot into the ground, creating a furrow. He used this furrow as his marker when he listed and then as he planted. He plants two in and one out on 34” rows. This year, a canopy covered the 34” row by August 20th. He expects the 68” skip row to be covered by the middle of September. D. H. applied 15 gallons of BioFlora and one-half gallon of seaweed creame per acre. He is very pleased with BioFlora. He was concerned that he might be short on nitrogen, but the color of the plants shows that they are getting the nitrogen they need. D. H. also believes that the carbon in the BioFlora has helped to reduce the salt problem that they have.
D. H. has leased a laser land level. He has spent many hours in preparing the land for irrigation. Some of the land is irrigated by row watering. Each year the Brewster family is able to water more efficiently due to the work done with the level.
Early this year, they had a small number of pink bollworms caught in the traps. Pheromone strips were set out in the field that triggered. Now there are very few bollworms left. D. H. believes strongly in farming the way he does. He talks excitedly about the bacteria in the soil and the number of earthworms.
Most of organic cotton in the valley will yield 2–3 bales per acre. They will gin at the Brewster’s gin. Lane is the primary operator of the gin. They ginned only organic cotton last year.