Best Young Farmers/Ranchers-4

The person who inspires Braden Gibson generally trails a few feet behind him -- 4 feet and sturdy, with blonde hair topped with a cowboy hat and a feather. Cutler Gibson is 8 and healthy, a growing young man who will consume a large, predawn breakfast at the Big Country Cafe, in Dumas, Texas. He is quiet, watches his dad closely and knows his way around a horse.

Cutler was born two months early weighing 2 pounds, 12 ounces. "He was just as big as my two hands together," Braden says. "He spent two months fighting for his life. He's a constant reminder that life may not always be easy."

PROBLEM-SOLVERS

Fifth-generation Braden sees the future of Gibson Farms in sixth-generation Cutler. "It was never pressed upon me that I had to farm and ranch. It's just something I've always loved," Braden, 39, says. "The key is making this work for the next generation," Cutler and his little sister, 1-year-old Kaitlyn.

"I want [Cutler and Kaitlyn] to play, to have a good time. I want to instill in them a good work ethic, to be problem-solvers," Braden says. "Whether my children choose to come back and have a life in agriculture or not is up to them. But we can make those big decisions later."

Braden is one of this year's 10th class of DTN/Progressive Farmer America's Best Young Farmers and Ranchers. The program recognizes farmers and ranchers who are among the best in the United States. The award, presented Dec. 10 at the DTN 2019 Ag Summit in Chicago, recognized honorees for their innovation, imagination and civic outreach.

DEEP FAMILY ROOTS

Gibson Farms is 100 years old with family roots back to Missouri. The business is owned by Braden, his parents, Lee and Paula, and his brother, Brett. Braden is married to Audrey Gibson, one-time teacher and full-time manager of the family's 22-year-old Nature's Way Compost business.

The operation does business on either side of the Texas Panhandle. "Those 120 miles [between farms] have a whole lot of differences," Braden says. The elevation drops 1,000 feet from the western Panhandle to the east. The east is a bit wetter, the west a bit cooler. The soil type changes 12 times across Gibson Farms. There is a noticeable lack of trees. "We live in a place where you can say, 'Turn left at the tree,' and you'll say, 'Which tree?' And I'll say, 'You'll know,'" Braden says.

Asking Braden about a good day: "Problem. Solution. In the same day." You have to appreciate his brevity.

The east portion of the farm is cotton country. Gibson Farms tends 2,400 acres of cotton, 1,300 acres of irrigated corn and sorghum, and a few hundred acres each of irrigated and dryland wheat. Irrigated cotton fields can produce 2.5 to 4 bales to the acre. Corn yields average 200 to 250 bushels per acre. Irrigated wheat produces 80 to 100 bushels per acre (bpa) and 20 to 40 bpa dryland. The cotton is a newcomer. "Cotton has turned into a good fit for our farm," he says. Nature's Way turns out 200,000 tons of compost per year from nine feedlots. The product is sold to crop farmers within a 200-mile radius of the Gibson operation.

NOT A TYPICAL OPERATION

About 30% of Gibson land is devoted to cattle. It's a commercial Angus-cross cow/calf operation with about 1,000 pairs and from zero to 2,000 feeders, depending on the market. Braden grazes cattle on irrigated circles of mixed grasses -- the grasses rotated beneficially with cotton. The grass cover keeps the blowing sand deadly to cotton under control. On the 120-acre circles, grass mix is planted in two directions to push up the grazing volume. "We can run pretty big numbers of cattle on it, about 1,200 pounds per acre." A cow/calf unit would need to have 35 acres of native pasture to support themselves. "It's not your typical western cattle environment. But, I'm pretty proud of this," he says.

Braden has a favorite phone app, the one showing the 30 soil-moisture probes he monitors. "Some people look at Facebook; I'm watching those probes," he quips. "I'm monitoring where we need to be; not overwater or underwatering, just where we need to be."

Braden is a lifelong learner. He earned his bachelor's degree from Texas Tech and completed The Executive Program for Agricultural Producers (TEPAP), Master Marketer Program at Texas A&M and the Texas Farm Bureau's AgLead program. He is a member of Elevate Ag, a peer networking group. "When I heard about it, I kind of giggled, 'Why do I need a peer group?'" Then he saw value in being part of a diversified group. "Our problems are not the same, but they are the same," he says. "We can share ideas because we are not competitors. I always walk away from the group with something that broadens my skills."

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Editor's Note:

Videos featuring each member of this class of 2020 America's Best Young Farmers and Ranchers are found at: https://spotlights.dtnpf.com/…

America's Best Young Farmers and Ranchers is already accepting applications for its 11th class, the 2021 America's Best Young Farmers and Ranchers. Find applications at www.dtn.com/nextgen.

Or, contact program coordinator Dan Miller at 205-414-4736.

Dan Miller can be reached at dan.miller@dtn.com

Follow him on Twitter @DMillerPF

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