Farm Progress

Under Secretary tours one of nation's largest cotton gins, meets privately with commodity leaders, hears their concerns.

Shelley E. Huguley, Editor

April 27, 2018

13 Slides

During a visit to the Oklahoma and Texas Panhandles, USDA Under Secretary of Farm Production and Conservation Bill Northey made a stop at Spearman, Texas, home to one of the largest cotton gins in the United States — the Adobe Walls Gin, which ginned a record 283,198 bales this season.

Prior to touring the nine-stand cotton gin, Northey congratulated the families of the farming operation whose cotton was the 1 millionth bale ginned at Adobe Walls since its inception in 2006. The cotton in the landmark bale belongs to County Line Farms: Bobby Williams and his wife Linda Williams, who partner with their children Linda Williams, Justin Garrett and his wife Lori Garrett and Bryce Williams and his wife Misty Williams.

Bobby Williams and his brother Billy Williams, who grew up on a cotton farm near Plainview, Texas, were also two of the original investors in the gin. “I knew cotton could grow up here,” Bobby says, as he walked through the gin. “I never thought I would be a part of this. The first four gins (stands) that we built — that was the biggest gin I had ever see in my life.” They expanded the gin in 2017, adding five additional stands, with two more scheduled to be added in 2018.

Following Northey’s gin tour, he met privately with producers and commodity leaders to hear their praises and concerns regarding USDA programs, agricultural trade and the farm bill.

About the Author(s)

Shelley E. Huguley

Editor, Southwest Farm Press

Shelley Huguley has been involved in agriculture for the last 25 years. She began her career in agricultural communications at the Texas Forest Service West Texas Nursery in Lubbock, where she developed and produced the Windbreak Quarterly, a newspaper about windbreak trees and their benefit to wildlife, production agriculture and livestock operations. While with the Forest Service she also served as an information officer and team leader on fires during the 1998 fire season and later produced the Firebrands newsletter that was distributed quarterly throughout Texas to Volunteer Fire Departments. Her most personal involvement in agriculture also came in 1998, when she married the love of her life and cotton farmer Preston Huguley of Olton, Texas. As a farmwife, she knows first-hand the ups and downs of farming, the endless decisions made each season based on “if” it rains, “if” the drought continues, “if” the market holds. She is the bookkeeper for their family farming operation and cherishes moments on the farm such as taking harvest meals to the field or starting a sprinkler in the summer with the whole family lending a hand. Shelley has also freelanced for agricultural companies such as Olton CO-OP Gin, producing the newsletter Cotton Connections while also designing marketing materials to promote the gin. She has published articles in agricultural publications such as Southwest Farm Press while also volunteering her marketing and writing skills to non-profit organizations such as Refuge Services, an equine-assisted therapy group in Lubbock. She and her husband reside in Olton with their three children Breely, Brennon and HalleeKate.

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