Harvest Time is Near

Just in case you didn't know, I sell fertilizer/crop protectants/enhancements retail. I work for Crop Production Services (CPS). We used to be United Agri Products (UAP), but 2 weeks after I went to work for them, Agrium, which is the parent company of CPS, Acquired UAP in a huge deal. Agrium is the largest Fertilizer producer/miner in the world. With the UAP acquisition it makes us the #1 retailer in north America. Our name will change September 1 to CPS.

What I do for a living is not new to me, I have been involved in agriculture all my life. My dad was killed in a farming accident when I was 7. When mom remarried, what else, it was to a farmer. I live less than a mile from where my dad is buried. My degree from Texas Tech is in Agricultural Education. The only teaching I did was my student teaching. I started my career in fertilizer sales on the Monday after I graduated from Tech. I have been back in Lockney for 10 years now.

Harvest time is always kinda bitter sweet for me. In my mind it marks a couple of things every year. The end of a battle, not what most of you would think of as a battle, maybe more of challenge. The weather elements, economic elements, that come with raising a crop. But always at the end, you can look back and take pride in what you have done. It's very fulfilling. I am going to have to start thinking outside the box some what over the next couple of years. With the increase of grain prices, cotton is no longer king. Cotton input cost have grown + grain markets moving into historic levels making corn, wheat and sorghum the crops of choice. Less input, more profit. That's the name of the game. I have spent much of my career in the cotton field. I love the plant. It seems to always survive. So, I have spent much of the past few weeks sharpening my grain skills. And there's quite a bit of sharpening to go.

Harvest time marks the end of life. The reaping your success. Marks the end of the year. What's fun is the time we spend preparing for the next year. We are learning new ways to prepare the land for new crops. We now practice quite a bit of no-till, minimum till. That's where we leave crop residue from the previous crop to help reduce soil erosion, and conserve water.

It's kinda like our walk with Christ. At the end of our lives we will reap what we have sown. There is judgement. We have 2 directions to choose. We can choose a worldly life, or, we can choose to put Christ on. You can continue to maintain your Christian faith by studying the word, living by example, or you can choose to follow the world. We can reduce the erosion of our time, conserve our faith. It's never ending.

Thanks fro reading this!

Love you all! God Bless!

Preston