Industry workhorse returns

by Gary Hodgson

It was inevitable that photographer Sue Hodgson of Brush, Colorado would take the award-winning photo gracing this issue’s cover of AgAir Update. The home she and her husband, Gary, built on a hillside overlooking the Beaver Creek Valley is surrounded by fields of grass, alfalfa and corn. Many a morning her alarm clock is the throaty growl of a crop duster’s plane pulling up out of a run almost directly over her roof. It’s about as up close and personal as one can get without climbing aboard one of the bright yellow flying wonders.

Some might assume a tremendously powerful telephoto lens was all it took to capture the photo from afar. In fact, Sue shot the AAU cover photo standing on her deck using a relatively low power lens. “Any more magnification and I’d have been diving for cover,“ she laughed.

Twice in the past three years, a Sue Hodgson photo has been recognized by the Colorado Department of Agriculture’s photo contest. The 2007 contest drew 140 entries. Eleven were awarded honors including AAU’s cover photo, “My Tractor Has Wings.”

It is also no coincidence Sue has a strong interest in all things pertaining to agriculture. Born on the Carnahan family farm in Riverton, Kansas, she was destined to have a love for the land. Her respect for rural life came from her father, Fred. Mother Virginia cultivated the creativity Sue and her five siblings carry with them.

Fate would lead the attractive young lady down a path that strengthened those creative talents with a career in television, radio, publishing and PR work. Those same forces of fate also led her to meet and marry Colorado cattleman Gary Hodgson. Together they have built a ranching operation in Eastern Colorado and developed outlets for their creative natures.

“She recognized this cowboy only knew about cows and horses,” Gary said. “And that doesn’t always pay well!”

Using her radio experience and his knowledge of the cattle industry, Sue developed a radio program, Livestock News Radio Network heard by millions daily and by logging on to the website developed by Sue, www.livestocktoday.com. The Internet program is available at no charge, 24/7.

Sue also recognized her husband’s hidden talent for writing and helped him develop and market a weekly humor column, “Under The Wire” that appears in magazines and newspapers nationwide. Those activities expanded into answering the publications’ requests for feature stories. These always require photos. The official ‘family’ photographer, Sue picked up her camera and began taking photos for these stories.

Not surprisingly, most of her work memorializes and honors agriculture. Her photos have appeared on the covers of many national and regional publications. Sue’s photos chronicling a ranch in mountainous Kremmling, Colorado have been included in the archives of the region’s historical register.

While agricultural subjects dominate her work, other subjects occasionally catch her eye. A feature story about a company, which furnishes Santas to high-end venues, resulted in the opportunity to catch over fifty naturally bearded Santas in full regalia, at formal group and informal poses. One photo found its way to a Christmas card. Several outlets market Sue’s photos. Soon they will be available on her web site.

Aerial crop spraying acrobatics have been the subject of several of Sue’s photos. The pilots daring ability to avoid electrical power lines, homes and other hazards of a developing rural landscape, amaze her. In addition to airplanes, Sue has photographed helicopter applicators as well.

“My Tractor Has Wings” accomplishes all Sue Hodgson’s goals and more. It honors the grand industry of agriculture and heroics of aerial applicators. AAU readers join the rest of the world benefiting from her talents.

About the Ag-Cat

The Ag-Cat captured in the photo, “My Tractor Has Wings”, is owned and operated by Low Level Dusting Co. in LaSalle, Colorado, along the Front Range of Colorado. The company first emerged as a crop dusting operation in the late 1940s and was formed by Kenneth B. Harris and Ward McMurdo. In 1951, the company was bought by Modern Air Service, Inc., but retained its name. At that time, Low Level Dusting operated nine aircraft with three pilots. The aircraft were vintage World War II N3Ns with P&W R-450 engines. Some were equipped for spraying and others for dusting. Their values ranged from $5,000 to $10,000.

In 1950, a young, 15-year old by the name of Loren Kent started loading ag-planes for Gale Harris. The following year, he went to work loading for Bill Coomes, the new owner of Low Level Dusting. Little did he know, that one day he would own the company. Ray Henry, an experienced WWII pilot and a crop duster for Low Level Dusting, with an instructor’s rating, taught Loren how to fly in 1953. Flying came easy to Loren and a year later he started his dusting career. His first season he made $1,800 for three months of flying dusts, primarily DDT, sulfur, parathion and thiodan.

In 1966, Coomes sold Low Level Dusting to Loren and his wife, Helen. The company came with three N3Ns. In 1974, Low Level Dusting transitioned to the Ag-Cat, buying two, replacing two N3Ns with two N3Ns remaining. In that same season, Loren returned from spraying a field to find the airstrip “scattered with junk”. Apparently, the two N3Ns had a runway incident that totaled both aircraft, but left the two pilots unharmed. Two more Ag-Cats were bought to replace the N3Ns. One was sold as salvage and the other was rebuilt to its original trainer, two-seater configuration. Loren sold it in 1984, the last time he flew an N3N.

As the years passed, a couple of flying services were bought and incorporated into Low Level Dusting. One of those was Buz Tapply’s Crop Dusting Service in 1990. Buz still flies for Low Level Dusting and also manages the company.

In 1996, Loren turned over the reins of Low Level Dusting to his two daughters, Dana Kent-Book and Lorrie Kent-Sparks. He had been flying for Low Level Dusting for over forty years and owned the company for more than thirty years. Loren passed away in 1997, after Helen in 1994. Today, Low Level Dusting is operating three Ag-Cats, mostly serving Weld, Larimer and Morgan counties, treating a wide variety of vegetables, corn and wheat with insecticides, herbicides and fungicides. Dana and Lorrie work in the office, along with three pilots, three salesmen and seasonal loaders/mixers and a mechanic.
Matt Reck (age 28) is the pilot flying the Ag-Cat in the photo, “My Tractor Has Wings”. He grew up watching ag-pilots flying over the local fields. In high school he loaded for one of those operators, worked his way up to field scout and finally to an ag-pilot. He’s flown ag for six years, with the last four years for Low Level Dusting. In the photo, Matt was spraying alfalfa in Brush, Colorado. He commented, “I remember this field being particularly challenging because it was surrounded by large, hi-tension power lines.”

Special thanks go to Lorrie Kent-Sparks for providing information about Low Level Dusting Co. that included an article printed in the company’s newsletter, “The Low Level Advantage”, written by Alice M. Betz. Gary Hodgson provided information about Sue Hodgson (www.livestocktoday.com).