Farming in Colorado’s Tough Conditions

Brett Gerk farms with his father in Holyoke, Colorado, raising corn, alfalfa, wheat, black-eyed peas, and sorghum. Like many growers in the High Plains, he knows that water is both his biggest expense and his most limited resource. “Farmers all know rainwater is better,” Brett says. “You look at your fields after half an inch of rain and they’re greener, stronger, and more alive than after hours of irrigation”

The problem is simple: most of the water available to farmers is pumped up from hundreds of feet below ground. It’s enough to grow a crop, but it doesn’t act like rainwater. Brett wanted a way to close that gap.

First Encounter With UpTerra

Brett first heard about UpTerra’s TerraFlow device at a meeting on moisture probes. A colleague asked him if he had “looked into this water thing yet.” Skeptical but curious, Brett agreed to a visit from an UpTerra rep. “At first I thought, this sounds crazy. Structuring water, frequencies, vortexing,” Brett admits. “But farming is all about taking leaps of faith. You plant every year not knowing what Mother Nature will do.”

In 2024, he installed three TerraFlow devices on his worst ground. If it worked there, he figured, it would work anywhere.

Early Results: Better Infiltration, Healthier Crops

The results were quick. “By the second irrigation, we saw better infiltration,” Brett recalls. “The water wasn’t puddling. It was soaking in. Crops on those poor pivots looked better than fields that normally carry our average yield”

He describes standing at the pivot, comparing water treated through TerraFlow against untreated water. “It even looked different. Cleaner. And the soil stayed open instead of sealing off.”

The Closest Thing to Rainwater

Asked to explain it simply, Brett says:

“UpTerra makes your irrigation water as close to rainwater as you can get. It infiltrates better, crops respond faster, and the soil doesn’t seal. Seeing is believing.”

That better infiltration also unlocked nutrients already in the soil. “We’ve been told for years that our soils hold enough nutrients to grow a great crop, but they’re locked up. With UpTerra, we’re actually releasing them. That means using less fertilizer.”

Cutting Costs on the Farm’s Biggest Expenses

Water and fertilizer are Brett’s largest input costs. With UpTerra, he feels he’s finally getting ahead:

• Water efficiency: “We can put on three-quarters of an inch, and it acts like we got an inch of rain.”
  
• Fertilizer reduction: “We’ll save money applying less because the infiltrations are better.”

These savings add up to stronger margins. “At the end of the day, it puts money back in your pocket whether through yield, healthier soil, or input savings.”

Soil Health and Beneficial Life

Brett has also noticed signs of healthier fields beyond crop yield. Ladybugs and earthworms are more abundant, and compaction tests show looser, thriving soil. “Every year we used to have to spray,” Brett says. “Now that pressure is slowing down. Keeping beneficials alive helps the whole ecosystem.”

Passing the Farm Test

Skepticism is natural, but Brett invites other farmers to visit his fields. “You can walk across the road and see the difference. I didn’t believe it until I saw it.” His father, a lifelong farmer, is now fully convinced. “He just shakes his head and says, ‘That damn UpTerra. It’s doing something.’”

Conclusion: A Leap Worth Taking

Brett sums it up simply:

“UpTerra is affordable once you see the results. You build it into the budget because it helps you grow a better crop with less.”

For Brett and his family farm, structured water is no longer an experiment. It’s part of their operation and it’s helping them farm more profitably with the water they already have.