A Farmer Explains the Benefit of Crop Dusting Over a Sprayer
He’s a farmer first and a crop duster second, and that changes everything about how he flies. We’re joined by Robert Houston, a fifth-generation producer who farms for a living and does aerial application because he loves the work and the relationships. If you’ve ever wondered what crop dusting actually does for corn, soybeans and canola, why some growers choose a plane over a ground sprayer, or how an ag pilot thinks about risk, this conversation gets specific fast.
We talk timeliness, crop damage, and soil compaction, plus the real-world economics behind paying for aerial spraying. Robert explains how he charges, why he limits his radius, and what makes loading from his own strip so much more efficient than working around traffic at a regular airport. We also get into the equipment side of agricultural aviation: fuel burn, aircraft design, and why pattern testing, nozzle angle, and spray system setup can matter as much as the product in the tank.
The most surprising part is what he calls the biggest challenge today: people. Robert breaks down drift concerns, chemical misconceptions, social media pressure, and why he’ll sometimes leave a field or even turn down acres if the situation isn’t safe or worth the risk. Along the way, we also cover his on-farm practices like injecting liquid hog manure and flying on cover crops to protect soil and recycle nutrients.
If you care about farming, crop protection, cover crops, or the future of ag trust, hit play. Subscribe, share this with a producer or neighbor, and leave us a review with what you want to learn next.
Transcript
Welcome to Back to Your Roots, a podcast that provides insight into all things farming, financing, and farm life, guiding you back to your roots.
Thanks for joining us today on Back to Your Roots. I'm your host, Chris Griffin, and on today's Back to Your Roots podcast, we have a pretty special guest, uh, pretty really interesting topic. We've got crop duster, Mr. Robert Houston, and he's out of Callaway County. He does crop dusting. He'll kind of explain that a little bit more. So, Mr. Houston, can you tell us a little about yourself, your farm, your operation?
Yeah, first of all, I've farmed for 40-something years, and before that I was— I grew up on a farm. Well, I think it's 5 generations. I know my great-granddaddy and my granddaddy and my daddy and me and then I've got two next generations.
That's awesome. That's really nice.
They're trying our best to make it work.
Yeah.
It's a bad time. Yeah. You know how farming—
I'm right there with you. So yeah, we know. Yeah.
What crops do you guys—
Corn, wheat, and beans. I'm about through with wheat.
Yeah.
Well, I think most people are.
Yeah. We've got about 700 acres of canola this year.
Well, I was gonna ask that because I know a lot of my guys in Ballard, you know, we've got some guys that are doing some canola this year.
Yeah, we had it last year.
So, and, uh, yeah, it's, it's, we'll see how that goes. We, I knew that was probably a lot of people were taking, getting rid of the, some people were getting rid of the wheat and doing the canola, it seems like. So, yeah.
So another thing, a little unique about my farm is, uh, about, I think it's 5 or 6 years ago, Some hog houses got built just across the line, and I bought all the stuff to apply hog poop to my ground.
Really?
And my idea, you can, you can put it on top of the ground or close to the top of the ground, or you can inject it in the ground. My thoughts were, I've slung dry fertilizer on top of the ground since early '80s. I've got some ground that was— I've only tended it once since '81.
Really?
Like disk it and all. But anyway, this year we injected over 6 million gallons of pig poop where we're going to have corn next year.
That's crazy.
And then I flew as soon as we got the pig poop injected Then I flew cover crop on it to help hold down erosion and it will grow good right there where that pig poop is and then I kill it in the spring and hopefully I get that nitrogen back as that deteriorates. It's a fairly unique deal.
Yeah, that's interesting.
Plenty of other people doing it, but not over there. I just, the opportunity come to me. It's not easy to get somebody to take that, all that pig poop. It's a big investment. I got to have 4 big trucks, road trucks, 4 big tankers, and then the applicator and the tractor. I've got a dedicated tractor to that.
Just for that?
Just for that.
I got you.
Holds 8,500 gallons of pig poop in the tank.
Wow.
That I inject it with. So.
Wow.
Then I balance that out with 8,500-gallon tankers bringing it to me.
Wow.
Well, that's awesome. Tell us a little bit about how you got into crop dusting.
I've been in farming for like making a living at it or trying to for 40-something years. And then got into flying. And my son and one of his buddies thought it would be a good idea to get into crop dusting, which is very unusual. It's usually a generational thing. But anyway, we just decided to get into crop dusting. And we started aiming towards that. We got some people to fly. We bought or my son bought some planes, crop dusting planes, and had other people fly them while we was getting, getting our chemical license, you know, for each state and commercial pesticide license. And you got to have several different hoops to go through on the airplane part.
I was going to say that's probably what, there's probably a lot of certifications you got to have and licenses.
We had a lot of them, but not all of them. You've got to have a high horsepower. Of course, them crop dusting planes are really high horsepower.
Yeah, a lot different than what we're used to flying.
And tail wheel, and you have to have commercial license.
Okay.
So while they were using other pilots, we was getting prepared to do it ourselves. And that's what we did. I did. And it's very rewarding, but it's challenging.
Are your sons still involved?
Well, he did up till last year, had a fatality.
Okay.
And it just took all the fun out of it for him and he's sold out.
I got you.
I've still got my old plane because I—
Well, we were looking at it before we started on here and you've got some pretty neat planes if you kind of go into that a little bit. You got your crop dusting plane and This guy's a— I already know he's, he's a thrill seeker. So we only talked for 5 minutes. He's a lot more of a thrill seeker than I am. So, but you could tell he was getting excited talking about his planes and showing them to me. And so kind of talk about that a little bit. All your different planes and what you got at your, at your shop and—
Well, before I got—
I'm going to get you excited, I guess.
So before I got into the— or we got in, me and my son and his friend or our friend got into the crop dusting. I'd done been flying for a while.
Okay.
I didn't have my license for very long, but I've been flying a long time and I decided if I was going to keep doing this and especially if I took somebody flying, I needed to get the license and all. So anyway, as soon as I got the license to fly, straight and level doesn't do anything.
That just doesn't get you going, does it?
I flew home from Branson Friday.
Boring.
Boring.
Yeah. Yeah, it was. Only thing made it good Friday was I had a 30-something mile an hour tailwind. I got home from Branson in an hour and 10 minutes.
That's not too bad there. A lot better than driving that sucker. I know that. So yeah.
But anyway, we got into that. And then so I got pretty comfortable with bigger planes and it got boring going straight and level. So I got an aerobatic plane and I mean, I put like 150 hours on one plane in one summer. And if you knew anything about airplanes, that is lots of hours and hardly any of them were straight and level.
Yeah
I didn't buy it to go straight and level.
So do you ever talk any sucker into getting in the plane with you and going in there?
Yes.
Are they terrified or like— Do they underestimate you?
I love taking people up. Like taking a— I've never took a woman up that didn't like it. Now, 8 out of 10 men will get sick.
Really?
Maybe 2 out of 10 women will get sick.
Huh. Well, they're always— they're tougher than we are.
They're better backseat drivers.
Yeah, they're a lot better than we are. So you're kind of going in. I know you're talking about like the certification and training and stuff like that.
Yes. Well, what I was getting around to, I had like 400 or 500 hours of aerobatic flying before I got into the crop dusting plane.
So you'd already been kind of doing that?
There was, it was all second nature and muscle memory.
I got you.
I've had in the farming, I've grown up with the computers for that, you know, the John Deere GPS and all that kind of stuff. Different spray pumps and tips. So there was very little it took to get adapted to the flying because like I say, the flying was just second nature already for me.
Because you'd already been used to doing it.
That's right.
Moving around and doing all that type of stuff.
And doing unusual attitudes. People think the crop dusting is that somebody out there showing out. That's not showing out.
Yeah.
But it looks that way.
I'm sure. Yeah, it definitely looks that way for sure. So, you know, I know we just talked about how much, how exciting it is. And I know sometimes when you have something you're really passionate about and you love and it gets you going, but when you get, I know you said you put 150 hours in one summer on a plane and you still do crop dusting now and everything. Do you still kind of get a rush when you get in that plane? Do you get excited?
Like, I want to do it. Yeah. Yeah.
It gets you out of bed in the morning.
On those days. If, if I now, if I've been in it for 3 weeks, I'm not as excited.
You're about ready for a break. Yeah, probably. Yeah.
Yeah. And I've cut down a lot. I'm not near as young as I used to be.
Well, and I, I was wondering about that because it's always, you know, you can always tell when somebody talks and when they're passionate about something and they really love it. And before we even started on the podcast, we were just sitting here chatting beforehand and I was like, man, we need to start. We need to start recording because I was like, we're going to miss out on some good stuff here. So, so let's dive a little bit deeper. What's, you know, to the average person out there, you know, maybe only seen, you know, somebody crop dusting one time or doesn't know much about it, you know, what's the benefit of spraying your crops with an aerial application and what, you know, what does that do for the farmer and their operation as well?
Well, one of the main ones is timeliness and it's a convenience to a lot of farmers if they don't have enough time themselves personally to do it. Or like if it's over the top of corn, if they get one of those ground rigs, it'll knock down a lot of corn. And if I don't have bad luck, I'm not going to knock any corn down.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Well, and I want, you know, because that's one thing, you know, that question was one when I saw them, I thought the same thing because I don't know much about it and, you know, kind of what that benefit looked like for the farmer. And so that makes sense. So basically, you know, from a timeliness standpoint.
And if it's too wet.
Too wet, something like that. So that's, That's where the benefit comes in and where you kind of your role rolls into that farm operation.
And a lot of it, a lot of times there's been of course, I'm on one end of it on that part it's most of the time, if you didn't have tracks already established in a field, like in a field of beans or something, there's been enough studies that you can about pay for the application with a plane. I've got some on my phone where they've done that. You can pay for the application by the amount that you destroy.
I got you.
Like with a 90-foot boom.
Yeah.
So there, that's not the only thing, but that's another.
Well, and that kind of goes, you know, that kind of goes into my next question. What I was going to ask you is, you know, talking about the difference in crops not having, you know, soil compaction and, you know, and getting run over with the sprayers, you know, and when they're out there, I mean, like you said, just from that standpoint, you know, what they're paying for the aerial application, it's saving some of that crop, helping with some of the soil compaction, which, you know, if you look at the cost benefit of that, probably weighs in the favor of the farmer. You made a comment, and I don't know if you'll be able to repeat it word for word, but talking about how you're, you know, you see the same guys, you don't go from Florida to Michigan.
No.
You see the same guys every year, year in and year out. You have a relationship with them. And tell them what you said. You said something about, you know, I'm here for the farmer or—
I am a farmer. I'm a farmer first.
And you know that.
I spray crops with a plane second.
And we thought, I thought that was really good, you know, just hearing it because we were talking about... And nothing against, you know, the helicopter applications, but their, their, their, you know, format on how they make money and how they do stuff is different. And you were just talking about how, you know, you stay in your area and you know the people and they know you and You built a longstanding relationship, which there's always something to be said about that. And I think they know, I think you know they're going to take care of you and you take care of them. And you guys both benefit from it, which is the most important.
I like to feel like they want me there and then appreciate me being there.
Yeah, for sure. So as far as how you charge, and this is, I mean, you don't have to go into super detail, but you know, is it, do you charge per acre? Do you charge how many miles or hours or, or the difficulty, you know, of, you know, because I know some areas and acreage might be more difficult, I guess, than others. Or how does that work for you?
Okay. On the spraying end, that's chemicals spraying. I usually charge just an acre.
Okay.
Per acre. But I limit myself to about 20 miles from the...
okay.
From wherever I'm loading at.
I got you.
And like this last year, I didn't go to Murray Airport. I didn't go to Mayfield Airport. I didn't go to Paris. I've been to all three of them.
Okay.
You know, but I just limited myself to if I can't do it out of the house, I ain't going to do it.
Yeah. Because we were looking at pictures you've got. I mean, you got, you know, a grass runway.
Yeah.
Right there. Yeah. A good one right at your house. So that's pretty cool.
Very comfortable.
That's pretty neat.
A crop duster gets so frustrated at a regular airport. Somebody— and it's not their fault, but I've got a different agenda than they do. Somebody in a 150, that's a little small, slow, general aviation plane. They'll get in the pattern. Well, technically, I'm supposed to— if I'm coming up and they're done in the pattern, I'm supposed to stay behind them. Well, they go out there plumb out of sight and turn, and then they land on the first third of the runway and then taxi down through there at about 5 miles an hour to the other end.
And that just and for somebody who doesn't like to fly flat and straight, that probably just frustrates the heck out of you.
And it eats up time. I'm out there circling thinking, ah.
So legally you have to stay behind them.
Don't have to legally, but it's—
Kind of a courtesy or—
Well, it's partly courtesy and part of the rules. Yeah. I guess it is legally.
Okay.
Accepted that way. But now, and then I don't take off on a regular runway out there at Murray or— they'll— you take off into the wind.
Okay.
That gives you more lift sooner.
Okay.
Well, if I loading on one end of the runway—
Then you got to go all the way.
I'm not going to do it. I'm going to take off downwind.
You got to do what you got to do.
At your own place, you can do whatever you want.
That's right. That's right. And that's what makes my own place so comfortable.
Hey, there's something to be said about that.
I don't have to say I'm— announce that I'm coming in.
I can do whatever. You just land and take off wherever you want.
I can come in at treetop high from either side. It don't matter.
You can do a loop-de-loop right for you. You can do whatever you want.
Well, I won't do that in that plane. It burns— that old plane of mine burns like 60 gallons an hour.
Really?
Yeah. Justin's had planes that would burn 90-something gallons an hour.
Is that just because of the being an application, you know, like the type of being a spraying plane or is it or is it just the age of the plane?
No, no, it's the jet engines.
I got you.
It's just.
Just got to have them in there and it just burns that much fuel.
They're more dependable than a reciprocating engine.
I got you. Okay.
And you can get more power in a lighter package.
Okay.
If you saw that picture of my plane.
Yeah.
The nose is sticking way out there.
Yeah.
That's because that jet engine is so much lighter than the old round engine that used to be on it. It's got to be way out there to get the center of gravity right.
Huh.
And then that makes the torque. I mean, it makes the plane even fly different. You've got to— your knee will get to hurting before the day's over. Push, taking off, pushing on the rudder to keep it going straight down.
Oh, really?
There's torque way out there.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's interesting. So, you know, you talked about, you know, we've obviously talked about, you know, how you charge, the type of different planes you got.
I didn't get around to the dry stuff.
Well, you talk about it.
Okay. The dry stuff. It's not our favorite thing to do.
Okay.
Dry.
But we can spread urea and stuff on top of corn.
Okay.
We do that a lot. Or Justin did down south a lot. I do some, but my old plane don't I can cube out too quick. It just won't hold enough that I can get over the ground. But then we do also do, I do a right smart of cover crops. Okay. Seeding cover crops, interseeding it into the crop before, right before they harvest it. And then I'll do some on my own even later just to have cover crop.
So how many acres do you farm personally?
About 2,300.
Okay. So you got a lot going on. You're not very busy.
No, no. Well, I can stay pretty busy.
Yeah.
For an old fella.
I have no doubt.
But with the dry, it's a combination of if it's oats, it's real light. I can't get much in there. I can't get over much ground. So I've got to charge more. And then I'm coming back all like I'll land like
So you're having to go back and forth.
4 times an hour. I'll land 4 times or 5 times an hour. Just, just backwards and forth. And if it's very far, I've got to charge for mileage too.
Okay.
With the spraying I do.
So from that initial spot to get to there.
Yeah.
Yeah. Because I'm having to come back so much, I don't have the money handle on, but very little.
So what I would say, you know, I guess Another question we had, you know, just thinking about this, you know what I mean? Obviously around here, corn and beans, but you know what, what is probably the most, what different type of crops do you spray? You know, is it just corn, beans, wheat, or is it, I mean, is it everything?
You know, I've done everything from cotton.
Okay.
I went down there and helped Justin some, but you know, we do cotton, canola.
Okay.
Now he did rice. That's a big deal south of here. I mean, that just keeps planes busy. And in the rice and you getting rice and cotton country and you're flying all the time. But up here I don't do much but just corn, wheat, and beans.
Corn, wheat, and beans. Yeah.
Yeah. And canola, a little canola.
And I kind of figured that's probably the answer, but I, you know, I didn't know, like you said, in the past you've done a few others and, and I know different areas, you know, like, you know, the crops vary. So, and you can go just 3 or 4 hours south and it's completely different. You know what I'm saying?
Completely different.
So, you know, I'd say, I mean, this would be a loaded question probably. What's the maximum distance you've traveled to spray?
You mean from my airplane? Yeah. Well, like about 20 miles.
20 miles about all the way down.
I've gone 22. My plane is limited.
Okay.
It was built to be a gas. You use less gallons per hour with a gas engine. I can only hold 80 gallons. Well, if you burn 50-something an hour, you can add that up and after about an hour and 15 minutes, I need to be—
You gotta be going back.
Majority of the time when I take off, my mainest concern is fuel to get back. It's just that old plane. It, like some of the other planes, will hold 300 gallons.
Really?
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
So, you know, I know you fly to different, you know, you're talking about flying to Branson and stuff like that. What's one of your longest trips and even just making stops? Have you flown from like just for a trip?
Like with a passenger?
Yeah.
Yeah. Well, Branson's, and I've gone down Texas.
Okay.
Right at Dallas. Addison, Allison.
Okay.
So anyway. I got my commercial license, but I don't have the IFR part. Instrument rated. I'm not instrument rated. So I have to pick where I can go. I don't want it to get bad on me. Can't get back.
Yeah, I got you.
You get— it's like Branson. You, you can have a front between you. You know, it'd be clear here and be clear there, but not clear in between.
Yeah.
We was going to come home Thursday. It was fine there, but it was just IFR, instrument flight rating.
Yeah.
You couldn't see here.
I got you.
So I just don't get way off.
Yeah.
It ain't to say I couldn't. I just don't.
I think you could do it. After talking to you for about 20 minutes, I think you'd figure it out. He'd wing it. So.
Well, I just had to land and wait for it to clear up.
Yeah, that's right. So, you know, the efficiency of aerial spraying versus farming, you know, the farmer doing it. I know we talked, you know, what the benefits was, but, you know, is there, you know, do they get more out of, you know, is there less, you know, waste? Is there, do you think it's a better way to do it, you know, for the cost? And I know sometimes it may not be, you know, it may not be the right fit for every farmer, but.
It might not be, but even on my farm, I'd just as soon have the airplane do it as the ground rig do it. My limiting factor at home on my own ground is if it's like something that will kill my waterways, I can't cut off and on and not kill my waterways kind of deal. But I do a lot of spraying on my own just to keep tracks out of the field. I can get done quicker.
Yeah. Well, and that, that was something that, you know, we had written down is, you know, does wind factor into that when you're spraying? So, you know, I, you know, is it a situation where you've got, hey, I've gotta look and see, you know, what the wind speed is today? And, and because I, I don't need to be, cause we're gonna have some type of, you know, obviously that's gonna drift. And so can you kind of explain that? What's that cutoff for you and what, what do you feel comfortable and how do you kind of judge that when you, when you're starting your day.
Yeah, a lot of, if it, it depends on the chemical too. You know, if it's a volatile chemical, I don't do 2,4-D, but just, there's some chemicals that are more volatile, like the fungicide. The only thing that really bothers me is somebody that doesn't understand what a fungicide is gets all tore up if they get some on them and it's not that big a deal. I mean, I'm not gonna try to get it on anybody. And that's the, when I leave the ground, fuel is one thing, but that's just in the back of my mind. But people is the main thing that I worry about. 'Cause they don't have a clear understanding of physically what I'm doing. And they don't have a good understanding about the chemicals either. They, it's, they're better now than they have been in the past, but then in another way they're getting worse because of phones and social media. They just, it, that's what I worry about number one when I leave the ground is, is there going to be a bunch of people there? Are they going to be friend or foe? And it's hard to tell the difference.
So if you had people, you know, when you're spraying situations before where—
Yes.
Yeah.
And what I'll do if there's somebody that just gets right on the down— you know what the downwind side means? If they get on the downwind side and got their camera or their phone up there, if they're at all possible, I'll just leave. If I have to just go and circle over here out of sight 'til they leave and I'll come back and do it, finish the job. If I'm lucky enough, I'll have another field and I've run 'em to death. They come to the next field and I go back to the other one. We've got a way of saving our passes and I'll save and then I'll go to the next one.
Yeah.
And then I'll come back.
Well, that, I guess that, that feeds into the next question, I think, you know, pretty well is, you know, what's your, you know, over the years as, as you've done this, What's the biggest challenge that you faced and has that changed, you know, with being a crop duster? You know, is it, you know, compared to 15 years ago or even 10 years ago, you know, what challenge did you have then? And what is, you know, how's that changed in 2025 or 2026?
The challenges are people.
Yeah.
That's my—
just to understand that they have and then they— and there's a lot more false information. You know, people find stuff and if it's on the internet, it's true. And, you know, it's not always true.
I've been spraying fungicide on one of my farms for years. And this woman has come up to me every year and say, you kill my trees. Every year.
You've killed them every year.
Every year.
Every year.
Every year they've been killed, Shea. So what advice, you know, you know, a farmer that's on the fence on, you know, whether they feel like, you know, calling you and, you know, or call, you know, calling an applicator and, you know, seeing if crop dusting or doing it, this aerial application would be a benefit for them. You know, what would you tell them and what would be some things they need to look at to see if it's beneficial for them, for their operation?
Well, one thing that if we do pattern testing, there is laws for airplanes, like I can't have my booms over 75% of my wings.
Okay.
And some of these other things, they're not even regulated. Like, and I've turned down stuff this year because I was afraid, not afraid, concerned that I might get drift on somebody else is something that it could possibly hurt, or well, like tobacco or hemp. Okay, just, just as a for instance, they test it. Okay, it's not that it'll hurt it, but it's not legal. So I need to know those things, and I'm not going to do them. I'm not going to risk it for that person. I'm not going to risk it for me. I've turned down several hundred acres this year.
Okay.
Because I just did, it's not worth it to me. I'm not gonna go out there and try and get an extra dollar and then cost me thousands in insurance.
Yeah. So I guess, you know, if a farmer's really looking at that, I think they just have to look at, you know, what, you know, what's the benefits and does it outweigh some of the negatives and vice versa for them if they're gonna do it themselves or.
Yeah.
you know, with a JD sprayer and, or whatever, whatever is, whatever is their liking, JD or whatever Case. But I'm just, we're, yeah, you gotta do them all. I always go straight JD, but sometimes, well, I got it by default. So, but, you know, I guess it, you know, for them, it's just really them looking at their numbers and looking at, you know, what's going to be the best option for them.
And then a lot of it has to, like, I can put I feel confident that my 2 gallons per acre, I'm putting a true 2 gallons and I'll do 3, but I don't like to fool with the other because I have to charge more and I just don't like fooling with it. So I, I'm not— this is not my number one job. Yeah, it's just one I want to do.
It's— that's what— that's the reason I was saying this one. When you talk to— like when I'm talking to you, this isn't, I feel like you don't do, you definitely don't do this for the money. You do it because I think you, I think you enjoy doing it. And I think you build some great relationships doing it. And I think for you, that's really just in the 30 minutes we've talked, I think for you, that seems really important.
It is.
And I mean, and I think that's important for a lot of people, you know, I mean, I think a lot of, a lot of successful stuff is built on, you do it for the right reasons and you build good relationships and the rest kind of takes care of itself, you know, so.
We do pattern testing. There's a lot of things about airplane spraying systems that is completely different, even backwards from what you do with a ground rig. I can take and have a tip as big around as my little finger, but if the angle of those tips on that boom, I can make that be a fine mist. By turning it down where that air hits it from the plane. Or I can—
See, I didn't even think about that because that's helping you with that actual application.
A farmer, which I am first of all, but a farmer thinks if you want finer droplets, you just turn the pressure up. Well, with airplanes, if you study it enough and have done the pattern testing, have done your homework, and try to be a professional at it, you understand that actually turning the pressure up will make smaller drops with the airplane because you're spitting it out of that tip closer to the speed of the airplane. So it won't bust it up.
So there's a lot of, I guess it'd be, is that physics?
Well, I guess.
I don't know.
I wasn't a very good physics person. So I think that's what that is. So there's some science that goes into that.
There's a lot of it. And if you don't do the pattern testing and do the and care, you won't know that stuff.
So being— so a level of professionalism goes into that as well?
I think so.
Yeah. Okay. I can handle that. So last question, I guess, you've been doing this for a long time and what's probably your most memorable experience? And that could be a loaded question too, because it may not come down to one. But for you, what's your most memorable experience in your time of doing this? One that just really sticks out in your mind?
I don't know, really. Actually, you know what, probably I've had mishaps. I've hit some power lines.
Yeah.
And that's not a good thing. I remember those.
Yeah. I would too, buddy.
This place around here has got a lot of what we call widow makers. In the industry. That's where you hide telephone poles over here in a, in a fence row and another telephone pole over here in the woods and then run the wire across the corner of the field.
Yeah.
Or there's a gap in the field, but they've hid telephone— they didn't hide them. It's just that I can't see them.
Yeah.
And then you can't see wires. If I circle a field I'll just try every time to circle a field 3 times, even if I've sprayed it several times.
Really?
Because if I'm looking for those guy wires and telephone poles is what I'm looking for.
Okay.
First of all, a guide wire means that there's one at an angle from that. And telephone means there's pole, means there's something out there going somewhere.
Yeah.
And, and in that 360-degree circle, there is only one time for a split second that you'll see them power lines.
Yeah.
So you've got to have a mental picture of it before you dive down in there. You got to figure out what could hurt you before you ever go down in there.
Yeah.
But anyway, I forgot what we was talking about.
Most memorable experience.
Most memorable. All right. I know what it is. Other than other than something like that, which is not supposed to happen.
But it's— that's a memorable experience that sometimes you don't want to remember.
And part of what the crop dusting is, I think, is it— you need to have total concentration. Literally, if you're 10 foot off the ground, it don't take long to hit the ground. No.
Yeah.
You know, I fly about 120. Now, some of them fly at 140. but my old plane, it does about 120.
You mean like 120 feet off the ground?
No, 120 to 130 miles an hour.
Okay. So how close do you get to the ground?
About 10 foot.
My gosh.
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's just that way. 15. Part of that, if you're one width, the length of your wings to the ground, there or a little less, somewhere right in there is where it really needs to be. That's why you hit, you could hit a power line because you're going to be down lower than the power line.
Yeah.
That's just the way it is.
Now we got off track.
Oh yeah.
It's a memorable experience. Memorable. I'm not going to let you leave here without telling me that.
I really think what it is is to have somebody send me a note, thank you for doing a good job.
Yeah, that's neat.
I really do. And you know what? You don't get much of that, but when you get it, you remember it.
I mean, when you're in a business like that and you're working with people and you get that, it does mean something. I think it does. And you enjoy it. I've got some like that in my office I've kept for years. So yeah, I mean, that's a good answer. And I figured it was, you know, the first part was the mishaps, but Those are memorable experiences we'll probably want to forget about.
Yeah.
But you learn from, I guess. And, and, but definitely building a good relationship and the people appreciating what you did.
I usually tell people, you most likely you can get somebody to do a better job, but you probably, you'll have to look long and hard to get somebody that would try any harder than I do. And it's simply because that I come from other side of it. The person on the ground.
That makes a big difference.
Yeah.
Yeah, that makes sense.
There's ways to cut corners and get more acres quicker, but I don't—
Doesn't mean you always do it right.
So I try my best to do as good as I can.
Yeah.
Well, I think that's a good spot to end, you know, just with him saying, you know, you do the best you can and do it right the first time and build good relationships. So, Mr. Houston, you know, we really appreciate you taking time. I know, I know you're, I know you're busy and I know you got a lot going on and it is, you know, it is December, which is hard to believe. I can't believe it's December already, but it's a little slower. So we caught you at a good time. And, but, you know, we really appreciate you coming. You know, we hope the Listers, I definitely learned some stuff because I didn't know much about this at all. Honestly, and that's the reason we do this podcast. You know, it's our whole point is, you know, for, for people in the ag community that maybe don't know much about it, you know, hopefully give some good information to people who are knowledgeable in the ag community, but people who aren't, you know, they're learning something new and, and, and educating them some as well. So thank you for joining us on Back to Your Roots podcast, and we'll see you next time.
Thanks for tuning in to Back to Your Roots, where we dish the dirt on all things ag. Be sure to never miss an episode by following and subscribing. While there, leave us a review about what you want to hear next. Stay in the know between episodes by following us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and TikTok. For more resources, go to our website at rivervalleyagcredit.com.