Faces of Cotton

Eight Seconds with Guyle Roberson 

Waiting for his turn to run drills, Guyle Roberson breathed in and out, clenching and unclenching his hands. Jogging in place, staring at the other players also working to change their destiny. This is it, he thought, this is my moment. My chance. They call his name. He steps out on the field. 

An hour later, he’s cut from the team.

Reflecting on chasing a football career, Roberson isn’t bitter, which says a lot about his character. An All-American offensive tackle at Lubbock Christian College (now Lubbock Christian University), he suffered a knee injury that hurt his chances of playing professionally. However, he didn’t quit. He worked his way up to playing for the Twin City Cougars, a minor league in California, and a good season there gave him his shot to try out for the Houston Oilers. 

Producer Seth Sowder and Guyle Roberson with the first ginned bale of cotton in 2021.

While he didn’t make a career out of playing football, the discipline and teamwork the sport taught him can be seen throughout his life. The farm boy from Amherst has had quite a ride so far. 

One Second …

Born and raised on a farm in Lamb County, Roberson was no stranger to working.  Farming alongside his father and brother was special. “While I never made a career out of farming,” he said, “I won’t ever forget how working with my family shaped me as a person.”

After football didn’t work out, Roberson worked for Lubbock Power and Light. He spent the next 21 years there working his way to manager of three departments and 45 employees. “Teamwork was crucial in that role,” Roberson said. “And, in a way, I believe it helped prepare me for the one I’m in now at Texas Producers Co-op.” 

Two Seconds …

In 2008, Roberson was approached by Amherst gin board members asking him to run the gin. When he walked in the doors that May, he locked eyes with all his old flag football and little league teammates, including his former little league baseball coach, and knew he had made the right decision. “It felt like a family reunion,” Roberson added. “I had been gone for a while and it was nice to be back home.” 

Guyle Roberson (right) with long-time patron Charles Hines from Littlefield, Texas.

Roberson is a numbers guy. He likes collecting data and measuring trends. He quickly automated the bale count system at the gin and analyzed components that led to inefficiency. Once he had measurements in place, he began prioritizing which concerns were of the greatest importance. 

Three Seconds …

The customers were also part of the analysis process. Roberson assessed where they could provide more value for customers and made strides to improve and maintain product quality both in and out of the gin. “We weren’t just ginning their cotton,” Roberson added. “We wanted to provide more than that.” It worked. The Amherst gin grew by 15% in Roberson’s first year. 

Four Seconds …

In 2016, Roberson was approached about a possible merger between Sudan’s gin and Amherst. He immediately went to his brother, who sat on the board for Amherst to get his opinion. The merger went through that June. 

Guyle Roberson with Greg Harper of Sudan, Texas.

“Mergers are…I guess emotional is the right word for it,” Roberson added. “A lot of emotions when merging two gins into one co-op.” 

The merger gave birth to the Texas Producers Cooperative Association — a $28 million company, averaging 105,000 ginned bales a year. 

Five Seconds …

While the primary function is ginning cotton, the Texas Producers Co-op doesn’t see a lot of downtime in the off-season. As soon as the last bale is ginned, the co-op begins preparing and planning for next year. “That’s when our agronomy season begins,” Roberson adds. “We start looking at seed varieties pretty quickly after ginning.” 

The co-op also runs a farm store and automotive shop year-round. 

Six Seconds … 

Roberson married his wife, Sherri, 31 years ago and has three children. His oldest daughter, Meagan Hunton, is a medical office manager in Amarillo, Texas. Randi Brooke Sheffey is a radiologist in Dimmitt, Texas, and the youngest, Shane Roberson, is a 3D prop artist in Austin, Texas. He also has a six-year-old granddaughter named Zoey. 

Guyle Roberson and his wife Sherri.

Roberson’s brother, Randy, was always the one he went to for advice. “He was my go-to, my rock,” Roberson said. “His character was unmatched.” 

When Sudan and Amherst merged, Randy decided to allow his board position to go up for re-election. “He volunteered to do that for me since I would be the CEO,” Roberson added. “He was afraid it would look bad for me to have my brother as an Amherst representative for the merged co-op. He was selfless like that.” 

Randy died suddenly on January 17^th — the day after his 58^th birthday. Twelve days before losing his brother, Roberson lost his mother. 

“My mother lived such a full life, leaving no stone unturned,” Roberson added. “What a blessing to be raised by her. Losing my brother was a total surprise. It’s been rough, but I was so blessed to love and be loved by both of them.”

Guyle Roberson and the Eight-Second Ride band. Members include: Guyle Roberson, lead vocals/guitar; Mike Ritchie from Springlake, Texas, on bass guitar; Clay Gibson from Levelland, Texas, on lead guitar, David Newton from Abernathy, Texas, on drums. Also pictured is PCG Director of Field Services Mark Brown from Lubbock, Texas, on fiddle.

Seven Seconds …

Roberson grew up singing in church and learned to play the guitar. In 1986 he formed a band and played gigs on the weekends. He’s currently the lead singer and guitar player for Guyle Roberson and the Eight-Second Ride. Sometimes, you can catch Mark Brown, PCG director of Field Services, playing the fiddle with the band.

Guyle Roberson and Sudan employee Beth Wallace.

Eight Seconds …

When he’s not singing and picking, he’s studying reports. All the entities of the co-op generate reports that he evaluates and transfers to an excel spreadsheet. “I want to be able to compare our operations to the month before or year before to make sure we’re on the right track,” Roberson added. “There’s always room for improvement and I would hate for us to become complacent, which would lead to loss of growth.” 

Roberson manages 40 full-time employees at the co-op and around 100 employees during ginning season. The teamwork spirit ingrained in him from sports is attributed to his success. “We wouldn’t be able to do this if we didn’t all work together,” he added. “Not only work together but work together well.” 

Roberson may not have achieved his initial dreams of professional football, but he couldn’t ask for a better destiny than the one he’s been given. 

The best time to call a farmer is when they’re on the tractor, according to Lloyd Arthur, a producer in Crosby County who had some time on his hands to chat as he prepared his fields for planting season. 

Q: How long have you been farming?

A: I started in 1981. I partnered with my dad and brother, which later turned into a partnership with one of my sons and my wife. Our operation is about one-third of the size it was at one time; however, I’ve learned that bigger is not always better. 

Q: Was farming always the dream? 

A: No, in fact, I told my dad at my high school graduation that I’d never farm. I guess never say never. I grew up in it and thought there were bigger and better things out there and wanted to try something different.  

Q: But…you’re farming? 

A: Well, I did help on the farm through college to help pay for school, but never thought it would be my livelihood. Then my junior year at Texas Tech University, I came down with Guillain-Barre syndrome, which is a rare disorder where the body’s immune system attacks the nerves. After spending two semesters in the hospital, I didn’t finish college. I rearranged my priorities after laying in the hospital bed near death and went back to my roots. Spending 70-some-odd days in the hospital at 24 years old changed me as a person and I decided family and heritage were more important. I’ve been farming since. 

Q: What is special to you about your farm?

A: Well, I was born and raised a quarter mile from where I currently farm. When my mother passed away, I found many historical things while organizing her estate. One document I found proves that my grandfather on my dad’s side was enrolled in the U.S. Department of Agriculture Cotton Tag Exemption Program. Evidently, you paid a tax to get a bale tag unless you had tax exemption papers like the ones I have of my grandfather’s. I have a collection of gin signs as well that are housed in a building we built on the farm for people to come out and tour our operation or some community organizations use it for board meetings. 

Q: Do you have any hobbies? 

A: My ‘therapy’ as I call it is restoring and refurbishing classic cars. I don’t get to do it as much as I would like, but I have a couple of cars that I’ve restored with my brother and my children. My wife collects animals. She’s got rabbits, horses, quail, miniature donkeys — sometimes I don’t even want to go out to the barn because I’m afraid there’s going to be even more animals in there. We have some Labrador puppies out there right now if anyone’s interested. 

Q: What keeps you going in the tough years?

A: First and foremost you need to have passion for what you do. I’m passionate about this. I used to be a little too passionate where every little thing would just send me into a tailspin, but I’ve mellowed over the years and I don’t worry so much about what I can’t control. Because, in farming, most of it is out of your control. I put my blood, sweat, and tears into this ground every year, and I enjoy the challenge of bringing in a crop. 

And seeing your children grow up in a lifestyle where they can walk out the door and entertain themselves outside for hours. You can’t put a price on the type of freedom farmland gives you or that my children had in this environment. It makes children resourceful — mine were always building things. When My son, Brady, was a senior in high school and my older son, David, was a freshman in college they designed a pivot service crane, which has been patented. My oldest daughter, MaKayla, works at the Texas Capitol advocating for agriculture and my youngest daughter, Jadeyn, is in the first class at the new Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine. The resiliency and resourcefulness of my children comes in large part, I think, from the environment they were raised in. And that’s why I farm.