Guar Grows Well On Dryland Farms

Guar Grows Well On Dryland Farms CROPS New Crops Texas farmer Randy Loveless says that Guar a legume grown primarily in India and Pakistan is good a crop for his dryland farm “It’s easy to grow the inputs are low and it really helps the soil Our yield was 900 lbs per acre and I plan to grow it again next year ” Loveless along with several other Texas and Oklahoma farmers raised about 100 000 acres of the legume in 2017 Guar has expanded in the U S because it’s a key ingredient in fracking for the oil industry When guar powder is added to water it turns into a thick gel that helps with deep drilling It’s also used in food feed and other industrial products Loveless says guar is valuable in rotation with cotton or sorghum because it’s extremely drought tolerant and fixes nitrogen Guar plants have a long taproot and do well in fertile medium-textured and sandy loam soils The plant produces seed pods that are harvested by a combine Guar Resources LLC of Brownfield Texas is the only USA-based “beans-to-powder” source for guar products General Manager Alex Muraviyov says the company’s guar protein is a high quality dairy animal supplement and guar hulls are blended into feed for fiber and energy Guar Resources licenses seed to local growers and buys the field production back under contract In 2016 they purchased about 20 million lbs and hope to increase that amount in 2017 Texas agronomist Calvin Trostle says that even though guar gum prices are down because of low crude oil prices guar is still a good fit for dryland producers because it doesn’t cost a lot to produce and it improves the soil for future crops Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Guar Resources 807 North 5th St Brownfield Texas 79316 ph 806 637-4662; www guarresources com

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