Custom Products prides itself on providing the highest quality dust collection and mitigation equipment in the world. We are a family-owned operation based in West Texas but our products are used the world over, including in China, Egypt, Antarctica, Canada, Morocco, Tunisia, and Niger to name just a few.
Custom Product Dust Samplers, namely the BSNE (or Big Spring Number Eight), were conceived and invented by Donald W. “Bill” Fryrear over his long and impactful career as one of the foremost authorities on wind erosion and dryland crop production. His work has helped prevent soil erosion, improved crops the world over, and touched millions of lives. After Donald passed away in 2022, Custom Products and his work is continued by his son, Ken Fryrear, and grandson, Brad Fryrear.
About Donald W. “Bill” Fryrear
Donald Fryrear grew up on a dryland winter wheat farm in Northeastern Colorado where he learned firsthand the importance of water conservation and the need to control erosion. After completing his education, he conducted research on water conservation and on water erosion control systems in Colorado, Kansas, and Texas.
After arriving in Big Spring, Texas he was in charge of the research program on wind erosion and dryland crop production systems. He developed methods for estimating crop damage by wind erosion to determine if and when damaged crops should be replanted. From this research, the acreage replanted declined from 75% in 1965 to less than 25% in 1998. He determined the impact of tillage and crop rotations on water utilization and wind erosion. He designed and built five laboratories and two portable wind tunnels to study wind erosion control parameters. From these studies, he could identify the most effective systems for controlling wind erosion in a semiarid region with sandy soils.
His results minimized production costs, enhanced dryland crop yields, and effectively controlled erosion with the available resources. He also recognized the need for equipment to measure wind erosion in the field. He developed the BSNE dust sampler that is currently used worldwide to collect samples of soil being transported by wind. The BSNE sampler results revealed major errors in previous models used in wind erosion science.
Because of his research accomplishments, Donald Fryrear is recognized as an international authority on wind erosion control systems. In addition, he was selected by the USDA to lead the effort and co-chaired the development of the Revised Wind Erosion Equation (RWEQ) which contains new technology for estimating wind erosion and evaluating wind erosion control systems. This wind erosion model can be used to provide accurate estimates of wind erosion losses from typical farming systems throughout the entire United States.
He authored or co-authored over 120 publications on erosion and dryland cropping systems.
Other work and distinctions:
- Served as a USDA consultant to the US-Mexico Arid Lands Management and Desertification program in 1980 Served as a wind erosion specialist for a US-INDO Arid Zones research advisory trip in 1984 to Judphar, India.
- Invited to consult with South African wind erosion scientist in 1985. Mr. Fryrear traveled to South Africa and made recommendations on their wind tunnel and field research programs.
- Was the US-wind erosion expert on USAID-ICARDA-USDA-ACSAD projects in Near East Region in Amman Jordan, 1986.
- Appeared before House Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation, Credit, and Rural Development to discuss wind erosion control systems in 1987.
- Consultant to Morocco wind erosion prediction project in Rabat Morocco 1991-1994.
- Invited by UNEP to consult with Chinese wind erosion scientists in 1993. Went to Lanzhou, China in 1995 to be a key speaker for the UNEP wind erosion training program.
- Consulted with Chinese scientists and toured wind erosion sites in 2000.
- He designed the study and selected the sites from which to collect field data to test the RWEQ in Egypt.
- Invited as the keynote speaker at the European Conference on Wind Erosion in April 2001.
- He has presented his research results in meetings in Syria, Hungary, Austria, Egypt, Germany, Spain, Italy, Niger, Mali, and Mexico.
About Brad Fryrear
Brad Fryrear has been with Custom Products for the past 12 years. During this time he has traveled to China to assist in the setup of Remote Weather Stations and to help train the Chinese students how to properly use the equipment.
Brad was involved in a study conducted in British Columbia, Canada from 2009 through 2010. During this study, he was involved in the deployment of BSNE samplers as well as in analyzing the sampler data and assembling data summary tables.
Currently, Brad is the Fabrication and Application Specialist for Custom Products. He is a part of the design team and assists in the design and fabrication of Custom Products equipment; as well as developing and running specialized software packages for VSAT, Soil Roughness Meters, Wind Tunnels, and data analysis software.