Lee Gibson moved to Moore County in 1978 when he married Paula Beauchamp.  He then started farming and ranching alongside her father, Carl Beauchamp. Today he farms with his sons Braden & Brett Gibson, fifth generation farmers, and son-in-law, Tom Strohmeier Located in the Texas Panhandle, Gibson Farms is a diversified operation. In 2020, Braden along with his parents developed a strategic plan to expand Gibson farms into a custom silage chopping business in an effort to generate more revenue for the farm, and service the needs of area farmers. Gibson’s silage chopping operation has chopped approximately 22,000 tons of wheat, and 100,000 tons of corn. The Gibson’s operate approximately 5,000 acres of land in Moore, Hartley, and Lipscomb County of which 2,715 acres are irrigated.  They strive to make the highest yield crops possible while preserving the land using best practices to minimize the disruption of the soil structure.  In order to improve the long-term health of the land Gibson Farms purchases compost annually from their sister company Nature’s Way Compost.

 

Nature’s Way Compost, LLC. (NWC) is a unique family-owned agri-business, with over thirty years’ experience, driven by a desire to protect and preserve the environment by utilizing sustainable natural resources of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium (NPK) to support Agriculture Producers operating in the Texas Panhandle and surrounding area.

 

Lee Gibson (CEO of NWC) studied at West Texas A&M University where he received his Master’s in Biology.  This education gave him a unique skillset for understanding soil, and the importance of increasing nutrient availability within the soil thus creating high yields while maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem. With this knowledge, Lee later began composting cattle manure in 1991, for use on his own farm.  The lack of quality compost in Moore County for use by other farmers sparked an interest in developing a commercial composting operation.  After extensive research and site visits to successful composting operations throughout the state, Nature’s Way Compost, LLC was formed in 1996 by Lee and his wife, Paula Gibson.  The company had onsite composting operations at Dumas Cattle Feeders and Texas Beef Producers.  In 2007, Lee and Paula expanded their partnership to include their three children, Braden, Brett, and Katie.  Through substantial market analysis, it was evident that there was more irrigated farm land that could benefit from the use of compost, than that of raw manure.  Nature’s Way Compost then began composting at two additional feed lots, Palo Duro Feedyard and Spearman Cattle Feeders.  This addition allowed NWC production and sales to increase from 20,000 tons to upwards 185,000 tons per year.