Written by Susan Rovegno, Publisher
Des Woods is one of the extinct rice farmers and a lively man.
Woods is one of only four farmers still involved in rice production in the area, the others being Clayton Pederson, Johnny Colvin and David Welch.
Woods himself has been involved in rice farming for 60 years, but his family’s involvement goes back even further, starting in 1931 when his father, J.D. Woods, and uncles, Ray and Richard, immigrated from Louisiana in 1929 and established the current Woods farm. It all started when the first crops were planted on the road. The family was drawn to the Brookshire area because of the area’s soil quality, which Woods called “the best rice growing area in Texas,” and the area is the highest point above sea level between Houston and the Brazos River. It was pointed out that there is good drainage. All four branches of the family, including his brother-in-law Chester Jordan, farmed side by side.
I have been farming for 93 years.
“The Good Lord had a lot to do with where my father and uncle Ray settled, exactly where our headquarters is today. It’s home to the best rice in Katy.”
Woods began working with his father after his military service in the early 1960s, working in a sharecropper arrangement where he received a third of the harvest and shared costs. At the time, when Woods and his wife were living on about $300 a month, his father projected a profit of $10,000 a year. He planted his first crop on 200 acres in 1965. “That first year, we made a lot more than $10,000.”
“It’s a lot of work,” Woods said. “We did everything by hand. It was mostly me and two other people trying to grow the crops.” That first year, his parents went to New Zealand for a month. He went on a trip, but Woods was able to consult his uncles while they were away.
Wood said he quickly realized that most of the work on the rice farm involved irrigation and levees. There were no backhoes back then. Mr. Bollinger, a farmer from Sealy, had been building a dike around his rice field and pumping water around it to “regulate the water level.” “The water shows us where the high ground is and where the low ground is, so we could go out there with a tractor with a blade in the water and level the land,” he said. . “However, you can often get stuck on dry grassland, and commercially available tractors are not designed to drive through sandy, muddy water.”
There, Woods met with a “very brilliant engineer” named Jones Copeland and decided to build a 4WD tractor that wouldn’t get stuck. Woods Copeland Manufacturing began in 1969 on a farm on Woods Road. Caterpillar learned what they were doing, considered what they wanted to do, and eventually launched them as a manufacturer so Woods could buy all Caterpillar components, including engines and transmissions. Ta. Woods said neighboring farmers didn’t want to participate in the water leveling themselves, but offered a year’s worth of crops if they would come help level the land. By 1973, Woods had founded the Katy Land Leveling Company, which leveled land.
Travel across the country using a Woods Copeland tractor. That same year, Woods owned 2,250 acres of rice, all of which was his own crop. “You can give credit to the tractor for that,” he said. Those tractors are still around the country, and five have even been shipped to Brazil, Woods added.
In the 1970s, Woods realized that due to development, “this land was going to be lost.” So he invested some of his money in land south of El Campo, which he says wasn’t very good, so he turned to his cousin’s farm in Arkansas, where the land was fertile and water was cheap. He eventually owned 7,000 acres near Monroe, Louisiana, and built a seed factory. At his peak, he cultivated and planted 6,400 acres of rice in two states. By becoming a pilot, he managed multiple businesses and was able to fly from Brookshire to South Texas to Louisiana, often taking his small Yorkie, Gus, with him. He flew Cessnas for 35 years and also became a helicopter pilot in 1974, learning to fly from his brother-in-law. “Water management has gone to a much higher level,” he said, but also saves on herbicides by spotting specific areas that need spraying rather than spraying the entire crop. It has become.
In addition, Woods has a ranch between Rock Springs and Del Rio in West Texas, where he manages deer and sends out a helicopter each year with park and wildlife biologists to count the number of deer. Ta. Woods now has locations in eastern Texas and Pennsylvania, where he still manages deer.
Woods said he has “been on every rice committee I’ve ever been on,” including as founder of the Texas Rice Research Foundation, which is “trying to support farmers with research” to help farmers increase their income per acre. Only,” he said. But that only forces farmers to lower prices.
“That’s why we’re building the factory,” Woods said. “Finally, here’s something that will help Texas farmers.” In 1993, 29-year-old Pam West showed up at his office. They had mutual friends in the Mississippi Delta. Brookshire Drying Company was in “disarray” at the time, Woods said, and Woods, then a director of the company, persuaded other board members to hire her to manage the facility. “Back in 1993, the idea of a woman running a rice dryer was unheard of,” he says. Then things started to change as stock prices rose and farmers were offered some of the lowest dry rates in the state.
In addition to growing rice on his land, Woods has a new crop: a warehouse. Woods said people started moving to Katy about 10 years ago, when they started building all the warehouses. Amazon was the first warehouse company to locate on Mr. Woods’ property, he said, and “everybody else came after that, including Goya Foods, Costco, HEB, etc.”
Location value goes back to location, Woods said, noting that Brookshire Drying Company, founded in 1944, is now within two miles of “all the people who buy milled rice.” This proximity saves millions of dollars in transportation costs to and from the factory. West said the mill buys rice from across the state and transports it by rail to Mexico, as well as partnering with TRC Trading to transport rice from the Port of Houston on ocean-going vessels. “We’re going to pay a premium to farmers so they can make a profit,” Woods said. “At the end of the day, it’s about keeping Brookshire Drying, but it’s about keeping Texas rice farmers, and that’s what it’s all about in a nutshell,” West said.
Wood loves being a rice farmer. That’s because it’s his tradition and he worked with this father and his family many years ago. “Back then, Katy was a rice town.” In 1956, he had about 50 high school classmates and the town’s population was about 1,500. “Having that legacy meant the most to me and still does.” He has four children and 11 grandchildren, and his daughter Christiana also works in the office with him. .
“I still feel very emotional about the time I went out with my dad. People asked me, ‘What are you doing exercising outside in the heat?’ I don’t need it,’ or ‘I’m too old,”’ Woods said. “When I was on the farm, I used to go hunting with my father, but now when I’m on the farm, I’m looking for my dad. I see him sometimes, and that’s my connection with rice cultivation. I am very grateful to be able to grow rice here.”
Keywords Des Woods, Clayton Pederson, Johnny Colvin and David Welch, rice farmer, JD Woods, Woods Road, Louisiana, Brookshire, Houston and Brazos rivers, Katy rice fields, New Zealand, Seeley, Jones Copeland , Katie Rand Leveling Company, El Campo, AR, Brazil, Rock Springs and Del Rio, PA, Texas Rice Research Foundation, Pam West, MI, Brookshire Drying Company, Goya Foods. , Costco, HEB,
