Two young alumni build a progressive enterprise in north central Oklahoma
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n early love of farming and machinery led to the development of a legacy for Marty Williams of Red Rock, Okla. Growing up on a wheat and cattle operation about 30 miles north of Stillwater, the Oklahoma State University alumnus knew from childhood he wanted to be a lifetime farmer, he said. “From an early age, I wanted to be out in the field as much as I could,” Williams said. “I loved driving equipment. I loved messing with cattle. I just loved farming.” When the time came for college, expectations from his parents and his love of farming took him to the OSU Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, he said. “In a way, college was expected by my parents,” he said. “I had scholarships to go, and after I got there, I realized the value of expanding my horizons.” Williams was a member of the President’s Leadership Council during his freshman year and a member of the Agronomy Club throughout college. Unlike many students, Williams lived at home during college to be closer to his parents’ farm, he said. “I thrived on working,” Williams said. “At the time, I didn’t know it, but I was building my future. I was renting farms and helping Dad. In exchange for helping him, I was able to use his equipment to farm my own farms.” Williams managed 160 acres in high school, but he bought his first 350-acre farm when he was a junior in college.
Today, Williams and his wife, Crystal, farm several thousand acres of cropland near Red Rock. The couple met at OSU in 2001. “We met in biology class my sophomore year, and she had just transferred in,” he said. “We were lab partners.” Crystal Briggs Williams grew up in Adair, Okla., but did not come from an agricultural background. Her uncle owned cows, and she had always loved the agricultural industry, she said. “I had some friends who showed cattle, and I just thought that was the coolest thing,” she said. She played basketball at Bacone College before transferring to OSU to pursue a degree in elementary education. The couple married May 15, 2004, outside the OSU Student Union in the formal gardens. “My uncle was the groundskeeper at the time, so he planted the flowers [in the gardens] for us,” he said. “We got to pick what we wanted that year.” After graduation, Williams began farming full time, and his wife began teaching in Ponca City, Okla. “We started with mainly wheat and cattle like I grew up doing,” Williams said. “In college, I learned a lot about no-till farming and the benefits of crop rotation. I saw it applied by other farmers in the area and decided that was the way I wanted to go.” In the beginning, Williams rented most of the land he farmed, he said.
“It came at a time when there were a lot of older farmers getting out, so I was able to rent ground,” he said. “I took on those farms and put them in a crop rotation system.” Williams’ no-till farming and crop rotations comprise the progressive practices that make Williams’ operation unique to his area, said Brian Arnall, OSU plant and soil sciences associate professor. “Marty is an early adopter,” Arnall said. “He has a lot of progressive nature in what he does. He is always willing to try new and innovative things.” Williams said success never came easily, especially in the beginning. “At first, we were growing so fast I couldn’t pay the bills,” Williams said. “So, I went and got a job at the local power plant pushing coal.” Today, Williams has diversified his operation to span a few thousand acres, where he plants corn, canola, soybeans, grain sorghum and barley, in addition to raising wheat and cattle. “We continue to practice no-till and try to do a lot of soil sampling,” Williams said. “We try to be good stewards of the land we rent and buy.” Jana Slaughter, Williams’ crop consultant and college friend, said Williams is always willing to try new things to benefit his farming operation. “He’s had a lot of success in adapting some of the innovations to his farm,” Slaughter said. “He is a good example of how we can use the things we learned as