Howard Wuertz

Inducted in 2009

Mar 2

*Howard in a cotton field grown with underground irrigation*

Litchfield Park - Maricopa County

Inducted in 2009

Howard Wuertz has been involved in everything from plowing fields behind a team to doing the same job with satellite-guided tractors. His Sundance Farms in Coolidge is a model for farmers from across the country, many of whom pilgrimage to Arizona to observe the innovative methods employed there.

Howard's journey into farming began at an early age, influenced by his family's deep-rooted love for the land. His grandparents, who migrated to the Dakotas from Denmark in about 1865, had a solid connection to farming. By the time they moved to California in the 1920s, they had acquired four farms, which they divided among their five children. The only stipulation was that the land would be theirs if they paid for the improvements. Howard's grandfather settled in Claremont, California, and began to invest in stocks, bonds, and securities --and bought another farm—this time in Arizona.

The Dakotas were cold in the winter and blazing hot in the summer. The land Howard's parents received was worn out and rocky, so when Howard was four years old, his father asked if he could trade it for the Arizona farm. His parents consented, so the family packed their belongings, climbed into an old Buick touring car with a soft top and a trailer on the back, and headed for Coolidge. The Arizona farm had a pump, a well, and water but no buildings. They lived in trailer courts in Coolidge until they built a small house on the farm in 1930.

Howard joined the U.S. Army Air S Corps when the United States was catapulted into World War II. "I served as a gunner on a B-24 and was assigned to the Pacific," he said. "The first place I was stationed was in New Guinea and then the New Hebrides group." From there, he went to the Philippines for the next six months. "I flew 39 missions and flew on targets all over the South Pacific in the retaking of all those islands, including Borneo," he said. "We bombed one area after another while our soldiers were retaking the islands in the Philippines, including Corregidor."

In 1945, as Howard was returning to the States, he experienced a unique event. "We boarded the USS General Randall on September 2, 1945. We were out in the middle of the Pacific, and we passed the International Dateline on September 15, which means I had my birthday twice." This memorable event marked the end of his wartime service and the beginning of a new chapter. September has been crucial in Howard's life. Not only is it the month of his birth, he and his life partner, Julia, married on September 4, 1949.

When he got home, Howard enrolled on the GI Bill at the University of Arizona. He and his brother Verne were farming in partnership. "We'd go to school and farm one semester," he remembers.

After graduating from the U of A in 1951, Howard's farming journey continued. Verne moved to California, and Howard started farming on the land he rented from Carl McFarland. In 1957, he took a significant step in his career by purchasing the property where he lives, which he named Sundance Farms.

Over the years, he continued to acquire land that neighbors were selling off. He always made it a point to buy a new piece of land each time he sold the property so the farm would continue to grow.

When Arizona passed laws prohibiting the drilling of new wells and limiting the amount of water farmers were allowed to use, Howard surprised many of his contemporaries by agreeing that more water was being used to irrigate the fields than was necessary. Governor Jack Williams appointed him as director of the Central Arizona Project in 1971. Governor Bruce Babbitt appointed him to serve on the committee to draft the Groundwater Management Act 1980. At that time, he was also president of the Cotton Growers Association.

With above-ground irrigation, a percentage of water is lost to evaporation. Not one to go with the status quo, Howard pioneered the development of subsurface drip irrigation for cotton, grains, watermelon, and other desert-irrigated crops. The system has allowed for water savings of up to 50 percent while increasing yields by 30 percent and improving the quality of marginal soils. He holds five U.S. patents for implements designed for cotton stalk destruction, drip tubing installation, and tillage operations. Once the drip tubes were in the ground, they didn't want to take them up every time they plowed or disked the fields, so Howard invented specialized equipment to solve the problem. He planted his rows 40 inches apart so equipment would have room to move between them. He created implements that work at less than eight inches, allowing the tubes to be left in the ground permanently. He holds patents for the Sundance Puller, Sundance Puller Double Bed, Sundance Modified Disk, Sundance Tape Injector, and the Sundance Peel-Off Rig. All are handled by Arizona Drip Systems, a company he formed for that purpose. Howard also developed a conveyor belt for harvesting watermelons, which he has yet to market. It is a small wonder that Howard Wuertz is often referred to as "Dr. Drip"!

Howard's list of offices and awards spans all levels of agriculture, but he's most proud of the honorary doctorate the University of Arizona awarded him.

Several years ago, Howard thought he was going to retire. He sold Sundance Farms to a developer before the real estate bubble burst, hoping the family would continue to farm the land until it was developed. However, the deal fell through, and Howard got most of the land back.

Today, Howard runs the farm with his sons Greg and David and his daughter Carol, ensuring continuity and legacy. A second daughter, Sara, has a share of the farm but works for the State of Arizona.