Blog

At 7 a.m. on a Friday, we were huddled around the coffee machine before embarking on a farm visit to Dustin, Oklahoma.

Conner and I got off to an early start this morning, along with Noble Livestock Consultant Bryan Nichols, Agricultural Economist Dan Childs and Research Associate Josh Gaskamp. When 5 a.m. rolled around, we loaded up in the car and made our way toward Combine, Texas.

Even if just for a summer, it took a lot for a true, native Texan like me to cross the Red River and move to Oklahoma. However, I was excited to begin my summer at The Noble Research Institute in Ardmore.

Growing up in southwest Oklahoma, I had little appreciation for pecans. My grandparents have a few trees on their place, and I remember them gathering pecans for Thanksgiving pecan pie when I was a child, but overall my perception of the industry was that it was small, perhaps nonexistent.

My first week at the Noble Research Institute has flown by and has been packed with meeting new people, learning about a new state and settling into my summer home in Ardmore, Oklahoma.

Half a year ago, I received the call. I was heading to Oklahoma, a place that I only knew through the stories of my grandmother. She grew up in the oil fields of the Southern Plains. Her dad moved the family from town to town, oil rig to oil rig, during the same time that Lloyd Noble was building his reputation as one of the best drilling contractors in the area.

Oklahoma changed my life by showing me agriculture on the other side of the country, and Noble gave me a compass to help point me in the right direction. Now it's dependent on how I utilize these resources that will determine my future.

As I began the summer here in Ardmore, I didn't comprehend the experience I was about to have. I was able to work alongside some of the most influential ranchers north of the Red River and had the opportunity to understand the ranching way of life.

Recently 12 interns and three willing Noble employees embarked on a voyage to the bustling streets of Bricktown, an area of downtown Oklahoma City, Okla. As we drove to our destination in a caravan of white vehicles, I wondered what adventures were in store for us.

We started analyzing GrowSafe Beef data today. The GrowSafe Beef system is a ginormous database and the focus of my summer here with the Noble Research Institute.