Kelli Merritt's - Texas Tech University

Issue XVI - June 2010
Texas Tech University
Kelli Merritt
Written & Designed By: Sa m antha Yates
Sometimes the road of life leads us down paths we did not initially plan to travel. For Kelli Merritt,
a farmer and rancher from Lamesa, Texas, and president of CropMark Direct, the road has led to
several destinations she never expected to find herself.
“Growing up, I never saw myself returning home to farm and ranch,” Merritt said, “and I certainly
never saw myself as a cotton merchant.”
Merritt grew up helping her family, the Youngblood’s, farm and work their Hereford cattle, and
although she always loved agriculture, it was not how she planned to make a living. What she wanted
was to attend Texas Tech University, earn her bachelor’s degree in special education and teach, all of
Larry Combest Endowed Chair in Agricultur al Competitiveness
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which she did. She also went on to receive her
graduate degree in education for the visually
impaired.
After graduating college, Merritt returned
to live on the Youngblood farm and
ranch. She worked as an itinerate teacher,
traveling to local West Texas schools providing
advice, resources, and support to visually
impaired children and their teachers. Although
her teaching kept her busy, she always
helped with the crops and cattle. Merritt
said that as she learned more about farming,
she also began to learn more about cotton
marketing.
“I always liked farming,” Merritt said,
“but as I got more involved in the business, I
realized I really loved marketing.”
After several years of hedging for her
family farm, Merritt decided to become a
licensed commodity broker. She teamed up
with Angie Goodman, who had worked as
CEO of an international cotton marketing firm
for over 12 years, to form CropMark Direct.
Merritt said her goal when starting CropMark
Direct was to create a farmer friendly company
that would work hard to help growers
receive maximum profits for their high-quality
crops.
“Texas had not traditionally grown
high quality cotton.” Merritt said, “So when
we began growing premium upland cotton,
it seemed an appropriate time to develop a
niche market to promote the progress Texas
has made in the quality of its cotton.”
While CropMark Direct does buy and
sell all varieties of cotton, the company spewww.aaec.ttu.edu/acc

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cializes in dealing with Certified FiberMax
Cotton. Merritt said she sees Certified FiberMax
as being a niche market that could
potentially make farmers more money. She
pointed out that more retailers such as Ralph
Lauren, Gap and LL Bean will need to incorporate
Certified FiberMax products into their
retail lines for the program to really take off.
Merritt said this could be a lengthy process
with designers and retail stores; however,
there are currently lines of sheets, towels
and clothing being offered with the Certified
FiberMax tag.
Merritt does an extensive amount
of traveling to present at conferences and
grower meetings. She also visits cotton mills
around the globe, actively promoting the
benefits of Texas Certified FiberMax Cotton.
She also works from her home in Lamesa,
as well as the CropMark Direct office in Lubbock.
In addition to staying busy as a cotton
merchant, Merritt also runs her 1,600 acre
farm and about 160 head of cattle. Merritt
said she plans to plant every acre of her farmland
in cotton this spring, something she
hasn’t done in over 10 years.
“I don’t usually plant all my acres in
cotton,” Merritt said, “but I saw that the market
was good and I can contract for a profit,
so I decided to go with cotton on all of it.”
Merritt said she believes more acres
than usual will be planted in cotton this year
due to the favorable prices and wet weather.
Combining her 1,600 acres of cotton with
what looks to potentially be a plentiful cotton
production season, could make this year
an extremely busy one for Merritt as both a
farmer and cotton merchant.
In addition to the cotton, Merritt will
continue to tend her cattle. About four years
ago her father fully retired from ranching and
the cattle were divided between Merritt and
her brother. The Youngblood Ranch holds a
strong history of running registered Hereford
cattle, and while Merritt still has several full
blood Herefords grazing her pastures, you
will now also find several black baldy cattle.

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Merritt said she recognized black hided
cattle were bringing a premium price in the market,
much to do with the success of the Certified
Angus Beef program. In order to see her ranch to
benefit from this niche market, Merritt decided to
put black bulls on her Hereford cows to produce
black baldy cattle, and so far her breeding decision
has been profitable.
“Certified Angus Beef has done a great job
creating a niche market that has been successful
at bringing its producers a premium price,” Merritt
said. “It is similar to what we are trying to accomplish
with Certified FiberMax Cotton. We want
to create a niche market for it that will result in
premium prices for its producers.”
In order to keep her operation running
smoothly, Merritt meets once a week with her
son-in-law who manages the farm and ranch. She
said the weekly meeting keeps everybody updated
and on the same page with the cattle, crops
and finances, and is especially helpful when she is
traveling for CropMark Direct.
Kelli Merritt’s road may have started off
leading her away from home. It may also make a
few turns and stops around the world promoting
Texas cotton. The thing is, however, that her road
always ends up leading her back home to cotton
fields and ranchland. She may have not ever seen
herself as a farmer, cotton merchant, and rancher,
but it seems as though they couldn’t suit her any
more perfect.

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Note from the Chair
Dr. Darren Hudson
In the next couple issues, we will focus
on “farmers with other lives.” Farming is
rigorous enough, but the next couple issues
we will highlight some farmers that have
taken on challenges outside of their farms
both for profit, but also for the common
good.
In this issue, Samantha has focused on
Kelli Merritt. I had the pleasure to take a trip
with Kelli to Vietnam this past March. I was
there to help explain the U.S. cotton distribution
system to Vietnamese spinners wanting
to buy U.S. cotton. Kelli was there to promote
Certified FiberMax cotton. All I can say is that
I wish I had her energy. She was constant
movement personified, and never wasted a
minute in promoting U.S. and Texas cotton
producers and cotton. Perhaps it is her background
in education or maybe it is just her
personality, but she has an uncanny way of
engaging everyone and keeping their
attention.
Finally, Kelli’s story shows that it is
possible to be a leader in several sectors
simultaneously. She
certainly profits from
her merchandizing
operations, but her
desire to enhance
farm profits led her to
that business in the
first place. Now, she
Dr. Darren Hudson, ACC Chair
devotes considerable time and energy to the
development of markets for Texas cotton.
This enhances her profits and provides more
potential income to Texas producers at the
same time. This kind of leadership with real
world experience is needed if Texas and U.S.
agriculture is to remain competitive.
Kelli’s story has three very interesting
facets when it comes to competitiveness.
First, she represents a growing composition
of female leadership and involvement in
agriculture. I see this diversification in the
classroom as well, but Kelli exemplifies the
prominent roles that women are playing in
production agriculture. Her creativity has
been a welcome addition to West Texas cotton
marketing.
Second, Kelli represents the diversity
of life paths that can ultimately lead to agriculture.
To be sure, she had natural ties to
agriculture from early on, but her life experiences
have likely enhanced her skills in
marketing. It would do agriculture some
good to seek out young people with different
life experiences into the sector to refresh the
tree of knowledge.
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