Far West recipient Don Cameron has contended with soils that wouldn't grow crops when he started farming in California's San Joaquin Valley in 1981. Today, though, he plants 26 crops on 7,000 acres.
His operation has been an ongoing initiative in reclamation, including the use of soil amendments like gypsum, soil sulfur and occasionally sulfuric acid and annual applications of 35,000 tons of chicken litter. Drip irrigation is another technology he has used successfully. He also grows many organic crops, and is one of only two or three U.S. organic Pima producers.
National Cotton Council of America