Alabama Agriculture 2013

ALABAMA

AGRICULTURE

• A GUIDE TO THE STATE’S FARMS, FOOD AND FORESTRY •

KINGS OF THE CROPS Cotton and corn farmers make the most of crop rotation

A Cash Cow Beef industry Steers $2.5 billion INto Alabama economy

Sponsored by the Alabama Department of Agriculture & Industries // www.ALagriculture.com // 2013

TABLE OF CONTENTS

5 A Look Inside 6 Alabama Agriculture Overview

Top Commodities 8 A Real Peach

From roadside markets to retail stores, the state’s top commercial fruit boosts economy

12 Bettering Bovines

2013

ALABAMA

AGRICULTURE

• A GUIDE TO THE STATE’S FARMS, FOOD AND FORESTRY •

Alabama cattle producers are the first step in high-quality beef products

17 Ahead of the Pack

Alabama Ag Board adopts livestock ID program

18 Stockpiling for Winter

Alabama cattlemen raise hay for cold-weather feeding

19 Ensuring the Safety of Meat Inspectors check for disease and sanitation in Alabama processing facilities

20 They’re Good Eggs

Hard-working family wins Alabama poultry award

24 Kings of the Crops

Alabama farmers rely on both cotton and corn in their fields

27 Growing the Truth

Alabama seed lab ensures accuracy and purity of food seeds

28 Peanuts Aplenty

This legume thrives in Alabama soil

8

alagriculture.com

//

1

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Alabama Agriculture 2013 Environment and Conservation 32 Fruitful Forests

Alabama’s woodlands produce profitable timber and hunting lands

37 Battling Drought

Alabama seeks to expand irrigation efforts across the state

Local Food 38 Something Special

Federal grant helps Alabama specialty crop growers develop their business, competitiveness

42 Small Farms, Big Cities

Inner-city farms promote healthy eating, education and availability

Research and Development 46 Leading the Way

Alabama Cooperative Extension is helping Gulf Coast farmers stay one step ahead

On the Cover Beef cattle are raised in every Alabama county.

PHOTO BY JEFFREY S. OTTO

20 42

alagriculture.com

//

3

Visit us online at

A LOOK INSIDE

ALagriculture.com

Welcome to

ALABAMA

Digital

AGRICULTURE

Edition

optimized for online Each article can be read online, as a Web article or in our digital magazine.

SHARE THE CONTENT

Easily share an interesting article, stunning photo or useful advertisement via Facebook, Twitter or email.

HAVE A BLOG OR WEBSITE? Embed our digital magazine in your website to offer compelling information about Alabama agriculture to your site visitors.

ALA

AGRICUBAMA LTURE

• A GUI

DE TO

THE

STAT

E’S FAR

MS,

FOO

D AND

FOR

EST RY

•

KING THE CRS OF OPS

Cot farmton and mos ers makcorn t of crop e the rota tion

AC Cowash

Tablet Beef $2.5 industry Bill AlABAm ion int steers A eco o nom y

Spon sored

by the Alab ama

Depa rtmen

t of Agric

ultur e

& Indus

tries

// www .ALa

gricu lture

.com

// 2013

Edition

The special tablet edition is designed especially for use on iPads and other tablet devices.

Dear Friend,

Welcome to the second edition of Alabama Agriculture, a comprehensive chronicle of developments in our great state’s largest industry. The first issue proved itself a tremendous success, being well received by our stakeholders in farming and agribusiness.

Alabama Agriculture seeks to provide those outside the industry with an understanding and appreciation for the contribution farming makes to our economy and to the fabric of our communities. You don’t have to delve too deeply in just about any county in Alabama to discover the positive presence of farming, from the Alabama Farmers Federation to 4-H and FFA. Add to this our land grant colleges, including Auburn University, Alabama A&M University and Tuskegee University, and the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, you will quickly come to the conclusion that we have an agriculture infrastructure that is strong, dynamic and incredibly supportive of the advancement of our industry.

Beyond the fact that agriculture and agribusiness employ one in five Alabamians, our state is the home of cutting edge research that has enabled the American farmer to feed the world with increasing productivity and quality. You will learn more about the substance of that in this publication.

I invite you to read and learn the continuing story of Alabama agriculture and how this industry holds promise for the future of our nation, our state and our families.

Sincerely,

2013

ALABAMA

AGRICULTURE

John McMillan Alabama Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries

Visit us online at

ALagriculture.com

alagriculture.com

//

5

overview

Alabama has

47,500 farms,

Alabama Agriculture A deeper look at the state’s leading industry A labamians take

agriculture seriously. From cattle and catfish to peaches, peanuts and poultry, the Yellowhammer state’s top industry is a significant contributor to the economy.

With more than 48,000 farms spanning across 9 million acres of land, Alabama farmers are hard at work growing the state’s top commodities, including poultry, cattle, cotton, corn and peanuts.

Livestock and poultry are key players for the industry, making up 82 percent of the 2011 commodity receipts. In fact, Alabama’s cattle industry is making an impressive dent in the state’s economy, with the total value of cattle for 2011 coming in at $837.3 million. The year was a record for exports in the cattle industry, with 2.35 billion pounds of beef being shipped overseas.

This exceeded imports by more than 605 million pounds.

Beyond cattle, the state ranks second in the nation in annual catfish sales. Alabama is home to the world’s largest catfish processing plant, and

6

//

A l aba m a Agriculture

its three large-scale processors sell catfish to all 50 states, Canada, Europe and Asia. The nearly 200 commercial catfish farmers produce well over 100 million pounds annually.

But Alabama’s industry is more than just agricultural commodities.

It encompasses the local food movement throughout the state, unique specialty crops like blueberries and sweet potatoes, research and development, agriculture exports and more.

Cities like Montgomery and Birmingham initiated urban farms, growing produce in the city and connecting city-dwellers with farmers who can provide them fresh fruits and vegetables. In the coastal gulf region, university ag extension offices are researching marine life and always learning more about what types of crops can be grown in their unique soil.

And it doesn’t stop there.

Alabama’s industry continues to expand and develop, constantly exceeding expectations.

with an average farm size of 188 acres.

Beef cattle farms are found in every Alabama county, representing a $2.5 billion industry.

Alabama is

3rd

in the nation in broiler production.

What’s Online Access more agriculture facts at ALagriculture.com.

Agricultural exports generate

$985 Million for the state’s economy.

Forests cover 71% of the state’s land area. Alabama ranks 2nd in the U.S. for pulp production and 3rd for paper.

Alabama’s climate, with its average temperature of

50+ degrees gives the state a strong growing season for agriculture and forestry.

Total farm receipts for 2010-2011 were more than

$5.07 Billion (excluding forestry)

The forestry industry employs 12% of the state’s workforce.

Alabama’s top five farm commodities

Together, they represent 87% of the total commodity receipts.

Poultry

Cattle & calves

greenhouse, sod & nursery

cotton

soybeans

alagriculture.com

//

7

TopTop Commodities Commodities

8

//

Alabama Agriculture

A Real PEACH State’s top commercial fruit boosts economy

photography by jeffrey s. Otto

M ark Knight wanted nothing to do with

peaches after he graduated from high school and moved out on his own.

Some 34 years later, Knight talks about his peaches like they are his children.

“We’re proud of our peaches,” says Knight, who owns a relatively small orchard in the peach capital of Alabama, Chilton County. “We can take a little better care of them (than the larger farms can). When you’ve got the number of trees they have, you can’t put your hands on every one of them. And maybe we can’t put our hands on all our trees, but we can take a little more personal care of them.” alagriculture.com

//

9

Fruitful Production

Whether they’re from the small, family-owned farms or the large operations, peaches are an important part of the agriculture industry’s role in the Alabama economy. Peaches are Alabama’s leading commercial fruit, and the state ranks 18th in peach production in the United States. Alabama orchards produced 5,700 tons of peaches in 2011, according to the USDA’s National Agriculture Statistics Service.

Most of those peaches came from Chilton County, which accounts for more than two-thirds of the state’s cultivation.

“Peaches are important here in Chilton County,” says Gary Gray, regional extension agent for Central West Alabama and the Black Belt.

Chilton County, which has about 2,500 acres of peach trees, is prolific in peach production because of a couple of reasons, according to Gray.

“Spring freezes are the primary limiting factor to peach production in Alabama,” he says. “Chilton County’s hilly terrain provides enough difference in elevation to allow denser, colder air to drain away to lower elevations, creating a warmer micro-climate along the ridge tops and higher elevations.

“Also, Chilton County has welldrained soils, which are necessary for peach production.”

A Family Affair

Chilton County peach farmer Henry Williams grows fruit to be sold at the popular Durbin Farms retail market.

To supplement his peach business, Williams also has a small sod operation.

10

//

A l aba m a Agriculture

Peaches have been in the Knight family for three generations. His grandfather and father grew the fruit, and though Knight had pursued other work after graduating high school in 1979, he took over the operation after his parents died in 2003. He now has about 3,000 peach trees on 40 acres.

Knight’s peaches are award winners as well, having earned “best of the best” the last four years at the annual Peach Festival in Clanton.

“It’s been in our family for a long time,” Knight says of his peach business, M&M Farms. “I also have

Mark Knight of Chilton County picks peaches on his farm. A third-generation peach farmer, Knight has won numerous awards for the quality of his fruit. He says that peaches are a labor-intensive crop, since much of the work is done by hand, including the sorting of the fruit before it can be sold.

a small lawn service business and my wife works at Walmart, because we still have to do other things to make ends meet.”

As most owners of the smaller farms do, Knight sells the biggest portion of his peaches through farmers markets and other open-air markets. He distributes some to a produce place in Tennessee and to a couple of A&P stores, but says most are sold through his M&M Farms booth. His wife, Melissa, and daughters Andrea and Alissa usually handle sales from the booth at The Shoppes at Eastchase in Montgomery.

“I enjoy growing peaches,” Knight says, “but I didn’t ever think I would.

When I got out of school and left home, I didn’t want to ever do any more farming. But you know how it goes. You get older and you realize it wasn’t that bad.”

The Big Peach

Henry Williams is in the Alabama peach business on a much larger scale. With his 120 acres and nearly 14,000 trees in Chilton County, he is a principal supplier of peaches for the Durbin Farms retail outlet off Interstate 65 in Clanton.

Williams began his career in farming after getting his master’s degree in soil science from Auburn

University in 1983. He says about half of his peaches go to Durbin, where he’s had a partnership since 1994, and the rest go to roadside markets throughout the Southeast, as well as to a wholesaler in Birmingham for distribution to places like New Orleans, Dallas and Jackson, Miss.

Williams hires about 20 employees for the peach season, which typically runs from May through early September, primarily through the H-2A temporary agriculture program.

It takes about 70 seasonal employees to manage the growing period at Jim Durbin Farms, which is also in Chilton County but is not associated with the Durbin Farms retail market. On 500 acres, Jim Durbin Farms has 45,000 active peach trees and another 15,000 that will produce within the next year or so.

“Our peaches are the Sunshine brand, and we ship to major wholesalers that distribute to places like Walmart, Bruno’s and WinnDixie stores,” says Cindy Phillips, office manager for the farm.

Jim Durbin Farms also has a packing shed on site, where peaches are processed and packed for shipping and where customers can buy peaches by the half-bushel basket.

– John McBryde

Chilton County accounts for

2/3

of the state’s peach production.

Most peaches are self-fruitful, which means they can produce a crop with their own pollen. alagriculture.com

//

11

Top Commodities

Bettering

Bovines

Alabama cattle producers are the first step in high-quality beef products Cattle are produced in every county in

Alabama, making raising cattle the most widely practiced form of agriculture in the state, and second only to the poultry industry in terms of revenue among all Alabama commodities.

Bill Lipscomb is one of the more than 21,000 cattle producers in the state. He is a fourth-generation cattleman and owns Three L Ranch in Prattville, Ala. With 100 head of cattle, Three L is part of a network of farms that has more than 1.2 million head in the state.

“I was born into it. Both my father and my grandfather raised cattle,” Lipscomb says. “Three L is a family farm in partnership with my sisters and my mother.”

Seedstock Producers

Like most Alabama cattlemen, Lipscomb’s cow/calf operation is considered the first step in the beef production process. He maintains a breeding herd of cows that birth calves every year, which is how the majority of Alabama cattle producers operate. These outstanding seedstock producers supply a large selection of outstanding bulls annually, representing all of the major breeds from Angus to Limousin. Cattlemen like Lipscomb across the southeastern United States work about 25 percent of the nation’s cow herd.

Beef calves are weaned between 6 and 10 months of age and are most often sold in Alabama’s robust network

12

//

Alabama Agriculture

of livestock auction markets. The market weight of the calves has been steadily improving thanks to advancements in animal science and genetics.

“We are now seeing 500- to 800-pound cows that have been weaned and preconditioned for two months,” says Dr. William Powell, the executive vice president of the Alabama Cattlemen’s Association. “In the past those cows would weigh 350-450 pounds.”

Cattle Herd Improvements

Improved genetics, nutrition and management have produced healthier and heavier beef cattle in the state, and these larger cattle are producing beef that is much leaner and more nutritious, Dr. Powell says.

“The way we handle cattle has changed,” Lipscomb says. “Through educational efforts from the National Cattlemen’s Association and others, we’ve learned a lot about feed quality and nutrition. We pay more attention to what we do and how we do it, and there are a lot more products and information on the market to help us.”

Alabama Cattlemen’s Association President Donna Jo Curtis of Athens, Ala., also praises the genetic and nutritional advancements. Curtis helped her father raise cows when she was a child and has been running her own cow/calf operation with her husband for the past 31 years.

“We are taking calves to market anywhere between 700 and 800 pounds, which is much heavier than we

alagriculture.com

//

13

beef cattle journey

Beef calves are weaned between

photography by jeffrey S. Otto

6-10 Most Alabama cattle farmers have cow/calf operations, which means they primarily raise calves to be sold at weaning.

were producing 20 years ago,” Curtis says. “The genetics research helps us pick bulls that have depth and muscle, and we get calves that are long and thick with good muscle, but not fat or fleshy.”

A Good Business

Selling the calves is typically the end of the cycle for Alabama cattlemen, who turn their attention to the next round of births due just a few months after calves go to market. In 2011, Alabama cattle producers sold nearly $400 million worth of cattle and calves. At the beginning of last year, the total value of cattle on farms in the state was $873 million. The value per head was $710 – a $40 increase from 2010. The industry generates about $2.5 billion in the state.

“It’s a good time to be in the cattle business in Alabama,” Curtis says.

Buyers ship many of the calves to wheat fields in Oklahoma or Kansas where they move into a new growth phase until the animals reach about 900 pounds. At that point they go to a feedlot or feedyard in that same region where they receive higher concentrated feeds and health maintenance until they hit a market weight ranging from 1,200 to 1,400 pounds.

The next step is processing in a USDA-approved facility, which produces the final beef products for domestic and global consumers. Worldwide demand has opened new markets for U.S. beef producers, with 2011 setting a new export record of 2.35 billion pounds of beef shipped overseas.

Dr. Powell says part of Alabama’s success in the cattle industry is due to the cattle producers’ commitment to their products.

“Here in Alabama, we were among the first to participate in the Beef Checkoff program, where a cattle producer pays a dollar when they sell their animals,” he says. “That money is pooled nationally to pay for research on beef, to advertise beef, to provide educational information and to promote our products. It has proved quite positive for our cattle industry in building consumer confidence and building demand for quality products.”

– Kim Madlom

months old, then sold in livestock auction markets.

Many of these calves are sent to graze

wheat fields

in Oklahoma or Kansas.

Then they are sent to a feedlot or feedyard where they receive a higher-concentrated feed and health maintenance until they hit a market weight between

1,200-1,400 lbs.

These cows are then processed in a

USDA

approved facility. alagriculture.com

//

15

Top Commodities

Ahead of the Pack

Alabama Ag Board adopts livestock ID program

A

merican agricultural leaders watched and learned from the 2001 outbreak of footand-mouth disease in the United Kingdom, and a few states, including Alabama, have put those lessons into practice in a program aimed at keeping livestock safe and the food supply secure.

The new program, passed by the Alabama Ag Board in October 2012, identifies cattle more than 18 months of age so instances of disease can be tracked back to where the animal may have come in contact with the disease.

“We are talking about traceability,” says Dr. Tony Frazier, state veterinarian for the

Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries. “And that’s one thing that can greatly reduce risk for the producer. This becomes obvious to the producer and the consumer when we think about ensuring the sustainability of meat as a food source.”

The federal government is working toward a program, but ADAI decided to start early, spending a year working with producer groups on the specifics of the ID rule. They came up with a plan close to the proposed federal rule, but with some differences.

The federal rule will require cattle that are 18 months of age and older to have official ID when

moved across state lines and a health certificate. Alabama’s rule says these same cattle must have official ID at change of ownership.

“The ID program allows us to announce to our export markets that we have a traceability system,” Frazier says. “If we had some true disease outbreak, even the oldtime diseases, we can respond and do our job without the ID system, but it takes us longer to complete the epidemiology. With traceability, we can do that faster, and that means we can recover faster and our producers can get back to business faster. That ultimately means a secure food supply.”

– Kim Madlom

alagriculture.com

//

17

Top Commodities

Stockpiling for Winter Alabama cattlemen raise hay for cold-weather feeding

18

//

A l aba m a Agriculture

photo by jeffrey s. Otto

I

n Alabama, it’s not a question of how much hay – there’s plenty of it. Instead, it’s a question of how to use it. Some cattlemen grow hay to use internally to offset feed costs, others purchase hay from commercial growers. Still others, in the way of a Southern handshake, share with one another in times of need.

“Hay is really a secondary crop, not a primary business for cattlemen,” says Nate Jaeger, director of the Alabama Farmers Federation Hay and Forage Committee. “If you look at the statistics for hay, you see it’s a very small part of the total dollars per farm gate. But, we have a lot of it.

There are farmers in Alabama who raise hay for a living. Most of them are high-value, low-margin operators that supply hay for livestock and also for reclamation, which is used for conservation purposes for construction projects.”

It’s good business for some cattlemen to grow some hay to offset feed costs, but for those with a high demand for high-quality hay, purchasing is a viable option.

That may be especially true when the cost and maintenance of haybaling equipment is factored into the equation.

“The message here is really how farmers are smart to diversify their operations by doing several different things, including raising some of their own hay, purchasing some hay, and building relationships with their neighbors and peers to obtain and supply hay when shortages occur,” Jaeger explains.

Fourth-generation cattleman Bill Lipscomb from Autauga

County is an example of a farmer who has adapted to the changes in the hay market.

“The biggest reason we grow hay is to feed our cattle,” Lipscomb says. “If we have excess, then we market that, but our main goal has been to carry our cattle through the winter.”

Lipscomb says watching costs closely is as important with hay as a crop as with any other agricultural business.

“In some aspects it may be cheaper to buy hay than to produce

your own once you consider the cost of the machine, fuel, fertilizer and storage space,” he says. “For the past couple of years on my own farm, we have been buying hay, and that also allows us room to run a few more cattle on the available acres we have. I don’t have to dedicate those acres to hay.”

“When cattle prices are good, that’s a good strategy,” Jaeger says.

“Those dollars saved on equipment and other costs can be used to add more cattle and more profit.”

– Kim Madlom

Top Commodities

Ensuring Meat Safety Inspectors check for disease and sanitation in Alabama processing facilities

T

o help ensure that meat and poultry are safe for all consumers, the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries employs 30 inspectors who must be on site for every slaughter, and must visit plants on processing days to check records and sanitation practices.

Most state slaughter facilities handle swine, cattle or poultry, while a small number deal with sheep and goats.

Dr. Issac Barrett, director of the Meat and Poultry Inspection

division for the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries, says that at every slaughterhouse, an inspector examines each animal while they are alive in a holding pen, then each animal’s carcass is inspected one more time following the slaughter.

“Inspectors also verify that all livestock are handled humanely during the slaughter process,” he says. “Animals must be moved from holding pens to the plant in a humane manner, and the animals must be rendered instantly

unconscious just prior to slaughter so that they won’t experience pain.”

Dr. Barrett adds that at processing plants, an inspector will also periodically weigh packages of meat to make sure, for example, that a 15-pound package actually weighs 15 pounds.

“The Meat and Poultry Inspection division is very thorough, and meat processing is well regulated throughout the state,” he says. “Our goal is to make sure all meat is entirely safe for consumers.”

– Kevin Litwin

outheastern Cotton Ginners Association, Inc.

Representing cotton growers and ginners in the Southeast states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.

For more information, visit www.southern-southeastern.org.

alagriculture.com

//

19

Top Commodities

20

//

A l aba m a Agriculture

They’re Hard-working farm family wins Alabama poultry award

Good Eggs

Gary and Barbara Wright work many

photography by jeffrey S. Otto

hours each day at their poultry farm in Collinsville.

“We work from daylight to dark-thirty,” Barbara jokes.

“Seven days a week, those chickens never take a break from laying eggs. They think it’s Easter every day around here.”

The Wrights run such a good poultry breeding operation that they were named 2012 Poultry Farm Family of the Year by the Alabama Poultry & Egg Federation.

“We don’t really know how we won, except that we certainly do run a family farm,” Gary says. “Our three kids – Amanda, Drew and Kevin – and son-in-law, Cliffton, all work full-time jobs, but every afternoon and on weekends they stop by to help. Our four grandkids are just babies, but I’m sure they’ll be helping once they get old enough.”

Gary and Barbara both come from generations of farmers, and they began to compile some farming acreage once they got married in 1977. Today, the Wright farm and the children’s nearby tracts span 600 acres, plus they lease an additional 500 acres to not only raise chickens, but also cattle, soybeans, corn and hay.

“For our poultry business, Barbara and I had two breeder hen houses built in 1995 and then signed a contract with Wayne Farms in Albertville,” Gary says.

“We’ve been supplying eggs to Wayne Farms ever since.”

15,000 Eggs a Day

Wayne Farms provides the Wrights with 18,000 laying hens and 2,000 males for their two breeder houses. The hens produce eggs on a daily basis and have an egg-laying life span that ends when they are about 65 weeks old.

Gary Wright from Collinsville operates a poultry breeding operation for Wayne Farms. He and his family have been growing breeder hens since 1995.

alagriculture.com

//

21

Gary and Barbara Wright, pictured with their children and grandchildren, consider their farm a family operation, and in 2012, the family was awarded the Poultry Farm Family of the Year award by the Alabama Poultry & Egg Federation. The couple raises breeder hens for Wayne Farms, which means their hens lay fertilized eggs that are collected and sent to hatcheries, then to broiler operations to be raised for meat production.

Then, after about a month of cleaning and preparing the two empty chicken houses for the next batch, Wayne Farms delivers another 18,000 hens and 2,000 roosters, and the egg-laying process begins again.

“We get about 7,500 eggs per house per day at the peak of the laying season,” Gary says. “Wayne Farms gets all the eggs, and the hatchlings are raised until they reach maximum weight of around six pounds as broiler birds. Broilers are chickens bred and raised specifically for meat production.”

Gary adds that the poultry industry has been good to him and his family, and the Wrights have always done a fine job for Wayne Farms.

“It’s not a business where you’re going to get rich, but we’ve made a good living – all three of our kids went to college,” he says. “Even when grain prices have gone up, we’ve been able to keep our heads above water.

22

//

A l aba m a Agriculture

Our family has always been farmoriented, and we wouldn’t want it any other way.”

80,000 Jobs

For the overall Alabama poultry industry, the state today ranks behind only Georgia in U.S. broiler production, with Alabama processing 21.5 million chickens a week and 1.1 billion a year. Poultry accounts for 68 percent of Alabama’s overall agricultural revenue, with cash receipts for broiler chickens totaling about $2.8 billion annually.

“The entire broiler industry contributes $10 billion a year to the state’s economy if you add feed sales, propane gas for chicken houses, construction and hauling costs, equipment and other sideline enterprises,” says Ray Hilburn, membership director for the Alabama Poultry & Egg Association. “There are 80,000 jobs in Alabama related to poultry, and 10 big poultry processing companies in the state.

About 2,700 individual growers raise chickens for those companies in 9,000-10,000 chicken houses throughout Alabama.”

An average American eats more than

80 lbs 247 eggs of chicken and each year.

Russia and China

Out of the $2.8 billion in annual cash receipts, nearly $400 million is derived from poultry exports, with Russia and China being the state’s two largest customers. The Alabama Poultry & Egg Association is also currently making a big push to delve into the India market.

“Probably our biggest competitor for foreign customers is Brazil because they have low labor costs and almost no government and environmental regulations, which is unfair but it’s just the way it is right now,” Hilburn says. “Brazil also has two or three annual corn crops while Alabama can only grow one, which gives them a feed advantage. However, one thing I can say is that Alabama truly prides itself on the quality of poultry we produce. Nobody beats Alabama for quality.”

– Kevin Litwin

What’s Online Meet more Alabama poultry families at ALAGRICULTURE.COM

alagriculture.com

//

23

Top Commodities

Kings of the Crops Alabama farmers rely on both cotton and corn in their fields

A s a cotton farmer for

photo by Brian mccord

most of his life and a corn grower since the mid-1990s, Shep Morris sees no reason why the two crops can’t get along.

The Macon County farmer is all for diversity of crops, but he is concerned that cotton is losing its stance in the South, even in the land where it has been considered king.

“Cotton is not the crop that it once was, but it’s still an excellent crop,” says Morris, who owns Morris and Morris Farms in Shorter along with his wife, Rite. “It probably fits our climate (in southern Alabama) better than any other crop, but the economics has kind of tilted away from it.”

“If a person has a good rotation and it works for them, then the person doesn’t need to abandon that for short-term economics,” says Morris, who farms 1,600 acres of cotton and 1,100 acres of corn. “In other words, if you rotate corn and cotton, you don’t need to go all corn even if the economics point toward it.”

Morris, who was the 2010 Alabama winner of the Swisher Sweets/Sunbelt Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year award, points to a key combination for why corn has

24

//

A l aba m a Agriculture

photo by jeff adkins

Corn harvest takes place each fall, with more than 270,000 acres harvested in 2012. The average yield was 105 bushels, down slightly from the previous year.

cotton average yields per acre in 2011

742 lbs

average yields per acre in 2012

840 lbs

grown and cotton has lessened in market value.

“The ethanol mandate has driven a lot of corn to ethanol production, which is good and has driven the cost of corn up. But at the same time this has happened, we’ve lost our textile industries in the Southeast, and this has hurt cotton.”

Corn prices surged in late summer 2012, primarily due to the drought in

corn average yields per acre in 2011

114 bushels

average yields per acre in 2012

105 bushels

the Midwest. In the meantime, the market value for cotton had dropped to around 70 cents since a significant peak in 2011.

“The worst thing to happen to the cotton business was the $2 cotton last year,” Morris says. “If the price last year had gone to 90-95 cents and not gone any higher, we would be much better off today.”

Analysts believe cotton prices

should improve somewhat in 2013 as acreage decreases.

Land of Cotton

It’s little wonder Morris is so partial to cotton. His grandfather grew the crop and was a farmer for 65 years, and Morris grew his first cotton at 18 years old. After following his father in a career as an aerial applicator, he eventually turned to alagriculture.com

//

25

farming and has been doing it fulltime for more than 25 years.

Morris markets his cotton through the Autauga Quality Cotton Association in Prattville and serves on its board as well. He and several other farmers formed the Milstead Farm Group in 1998, and out of that they were able to build their own cotton gin.

“It’s a very modern facility, and turnout from it is very good,” Morris says. “It allows farmers to kind of own the supply chain going up.

That’s another reason to stay in the cotton business.”

Corn’s ‘Huge Demand’

photo by Michael Conti

staff photo

Morris says he can certainly see the attraction of corn. It was valued at more than $178 million in Alabama in 2011, according to USDA statistics, second to cotton’s value at nearly $308 million.

“There’s a huge demand for corn,” Morris says. “The Chinese used to be one of our big competitors (in corn production), and now they’re actually a customer.”

With the onset of GMO corn in the past 15 years or so, yields are much stronger.

“When I was a teenager,” Morris says, “if somebody made 50 bushels of corn grain, they thought that was a magnificent yield, and now that can be done almost by accident. We had some dry land corn that made 180190 bushels last year. There have been tremendous steps forward in the genetics, and a lot of emphasis has been put on it.”

Morris has earned a reputation throughout the state for his approach to farming in general. Among his methods, he uses a stripper machine for harvesting and is an advocate for no-till technology. And he certainly demonstrates a belief in diversity of crops, as he also grows soybeans, peanuts, wheat and pecans.But cotton is still king at Morris and Morris Farms.

“We don’t need to abandon cotton,” Morris says. “What we really need is for the textile industries to come back. If we can have an ethanol mandate, maybe we could have a textile mandate.”

– John McBryde

26

//

A l aba m a Agriculture

Seed Labs

Growing the Truth

Alabama lab ensures accuracy, purity of food seeds

T

he Alabama Department of Agriculture & Industries’ seed lab helps ensure that farmers and other consumers can purchase good-quality seed that is truthfully described on the attached label or tag.

The lab deals almost solely with seeds that grow food crops, rather than those that grow flowers, shrubs and other ornamentals.

“With ornamental seeds on rare occasion, we will investigate a package only if there is a complaint, but we don’t have enough people to cover that aspect of growing – plus those seeds are rarely an issue,” says Andrae

McMillian, seed lab director. “Our focus is food crops, whether it’s corn, wheat, soybeans, alfalfa and so forth. We also inspect food mixtures for deer, turkey and quail that contain crop seeds such as peanuts, wheat and soybeans.”

McMillian says seed lab analysts and technicians test packaged seeds for accuracy of purity, the presence of noxious weed seed, and germination claims made on the labels.

“For example, if a seed package is labeled soybeans, we first make sure it is soybeans,” he says. “If the label says it will grow to 85 percent of its maximum size, we also verify

that it will grow within a reasonable tolerance of that 85 percent. In addition, the lab makes sure that only a certain small percentage of weed content can be in the seeds, which is especially important with grass seeds that livestock will graze upon.”

McMillian adds that the seed lab keeps all tested samplings for at least six months.

“We record and keep small bags in case of litigation, or if there is a legitimate reason to re-test them,” he says. “Quality seeds and truthful labeling – that’s what the seed lab is all about.”

– Kevin Litwin

alagriculture.com

//

27

Top Commodities

PEANUTS Aplenty Peanut production thrives in Alabama soil

George Jeffcoat farms about 2,500 acres of peanuts, cotton, corn and wheat in Gordon, Ala. Last year, he devoted almost half of his acreage for growing peanuts.

28

//

Alabama Agriculture

alagriculture.com

//

29

photography by jeffrey s. Otto

George Jeffcoat of Gordon, Ala., raised about 1,000 acres of peanuts last year. He and other Alabama farmers have found success in growing peanuts, due to optimal soil conditions, favorable markets and proximity to peanut-shelling facilities.

When it came time for George Jeffcoat

of Gordon, Ala., to choose his future career, he says it was a fairly easy decision.

“I grew up on a farm and worked summers and weekends while attending college, he says. “After college, my wife Gloria and I returned to the farm and started farming full time in 1971.”

Jeffcoat recalls that when he first started farming peanuts, they were on an allotment system, which limited the amount of acreage farmers could plant. As neighboring farmers retired and farms became available, he increased his peanut acreage.

Today, Jeffcoat farms 2,500 acres of peanuts, cotton, corn and wheat. Last year, he devoted 1,000 of his acres to peanuts, but it varies each year, depending on the contract price prior to planting season and his rotational needs.

Peanut History

According to the Alabama Peanut Producers Association (APPA), approximately half of all peanuts grown in the country are produced within a 100-mile radius of Dothan, Ala. The state has become a leading producer of peanuts in the last two centuries because of its optimal soil types, suitable climate and the efficiency of peanuts as a crop rotation behind cotton.

“Most soils on my farm are well-drained sandy soils that can be farmed in a wide range of moisture

30

//

A l aba m a Agriculture

conditions, which is ideal for peanut production,” Jeffcoat says. “Peanuts can tolerate a short drought and still produce a decent yield.”

But beyond the crop’s viability with the climate, Alabama farmers adopted this crop in the early 1900s after the boll weevil – a devastating pest that entered the U.S. from Mexico and affected the cotton crop – threatened their cotton harvests. Alabama cotton producers turned under their cotton plants and replaced them with other crops like corn and peanuts.

Making the switch to peanut farming was a risky one for farmers of the early 1900s. Until that time, peanuts were only grown as livestock feed, a garden product and food for the poor.

George Washington Carver, head of the agriculture department at Tuskegee Institute, released peanut research findings in 1916 that led to the development of more than 300 uses for peanuts and machinery that could harvest and shell the peanuts more efficiently.

Carver’s research also led to the practice of rotating peanuts with other crops, typically cotton, from year to year. The peanut is a legume, which is a plant that has nitrogen-fixing bacteria on its roots. Peanut plants add nitrogen back into the soil, which is an advantage for farmers who can then apply less fertilizer to the soil for a subsequent crop.

An additional benefit of peanuts grown in rotation with cotton is that the same planters can be used for both crops.

George Jeffcoat sprays a peanut field. He says that the soils on his farm are well-drained and sandy, which is optimal for peanut production.

Harvest and Marketing

Jeffcoat points out one significant difference between peanuts and his other row crops.

“Peanuts need to be harvested in a timely manner that requires a lot of specialized equipment that can only be used in peanut harvesting,” he explains.

Peanut harvest is a two-step process. Since peanuts mature under the ground, the first step during harvest is to dig the peanut plant up, using specialized equipment called a digger. The digger has long blades that run four to six inches under the ground and detaches the plant from the tap root, shakes the dirt from the peanuts, rotates the plant and lays it back down on top of the soil.

At this point, the peanuts are facing up and the leaves down, essentially upside down from how they grew.

The peanuts must dry in the field for several days, then a peanut combine (also called a thresher) separates the pods from the vines. The pods are kept in a hopper on the combine, with the vines returned to the field to improve soil matter.

Peanuts are transferred to wagons for further curing before being taken to a buying station for inspection and sales.

Farmers in southern Alabama have accessibility to peanut buyers and shelling facilities near the coast and near major cities such as Atlanta. Potentially, there are ways to market every part of the peanut plant, not just the peanuts themselves. Peanut shells are used in cat litter, fireplace logs and even particle board.

The peanut plant can be baled and fed to livestock such as cattle and horses.

Jeffcoat is optimistic about the future of his industry.

“The future looks profitable for the industry,” he says.

“The domestic consumption of peanuts is fairly level, with slight increases from year to year. Additional export markets will determine the future acreage of peanuts.

With new promotion efforts and new peanut products, the demand could increase.”

– Christy Rogers Brown alagriculture.com

//

31

Environment and Conservation

Step 1: Harvesting When trees reach maturity, landowners begin harvesting. Some contract out to independent logging companies, others run a private harvesting operation.

Trees are cut using several different methods, including clearcut, shelterwood cut, seed tree harvest and group selection.

Step 2: Transportation and Processing Once the logs are cut, they are loaded onto a truck for transport to the local sawmill or wood chipper.

From there, a tree that once stood tall is turned into a wide variety of products. Alabama is second in the nation in pulp production and third in the U.S. in paper production.

Step 3: Replant and Regrowth Trees are a renewable resource and can be grown, harvested, replanted and harvested again and again, all while providing clean air and water, habitat for wildlife and a variety of products consumed every day.

After acreages are harvested, landowners sow seeds and plant seedlings to rebuild their forests.

Conservation management involves thinning, burning and planting to create stronger, healthier habitats.

32

//

A l aba m a Agriculture

Fruitful Forests Alabama’s woodlands produce profitable timber, hunting lands When you think of A labama’s agriculture industry, row crops

most likely take up the top spots on everyone’s lists.

But forestry has been one of the state’s strongest industries year after year in exports, acreage and, probably most important, its impact on the economy.

“There are a lot of things that make us successful,” says Rick Oates, director of the Alabama Farmers Federation’s Forestry Division. “The climate, with its 50 degreeplus average temperature, gives the state a strong growing season. The paper and lumber mills – the state is second in the nation in pulp production and third in paper production – are strong here, too.”

And what is the key to Alabama maintaining the vital resource?

Its people.

“People understand the importance of forestry to the economy,” Oates says.

“Everybody realizes its impact as the backbone of the economy.”

The private ownership of the state’s timberland helps lift Alabama to its high ranking compared to other states, especially in the West, Oates says.

“Most of the forest land is privately owned; in the 70 percent range is nonindustrial land ownership,” he says. “That’s a pretty significant amount of land.

“That’s one advantage we have. In the West, it’s about 70 percent government managed – or mismanaged.”

The mismanagement – or leaving the forests to grow “naturally” – has been cited as a factor in the wildfires that ravage that region year after year. Government restrictions on the government-held land limit the amount of wood that can be harvested, which also hampers economic growth that can be provided by the timber industry.

alagriculture.com

//

33

83% of Alabama timber acreage

Alabama has 22.6 million acres of forestland, covering 71 percent of the state’s land area.

Forestry represents a $15 billion industry and 70,000 jobs.

“Conservation management involves thinning, burning, planting to create a healthier, stronger habitat,” says Alan Clemons, Southeast managing editor of Deer & Deer Hunting. “Controlled, prescribed burning may look ugly but the benefits can be almost immediate when new growth emerges.”

“Clear-cutting also draws criticism, but a well-planned replanting strategy also will yield future dividends if a management plan is designed and followed.”

In Alabama, wildfires are a rarity, in spite of the number of wooded acres covering the state, due in no small way to the management practices.

And some credit has to be given to the limited role of the state in the timber business.

According to the Alabama Forestry Commission, the state has 22.6 million acres of forest land that cover 71 percent of the state. Forestry is a $15 billion industry that employs about 70,000 people, providing $2.2 billion in payroll.

With another 100,000 people indirectly employed by forestry, the industry employs about 12 percent of the state’s workforce.

The Outdoor Industry

Of course, the land isn’t just for timber production.

Hunters take advantage of the abundance of woodlands for their sport while other outdoors enthusiasts enjoy this natural resource by camping and hiking.

“Conservation management of all forests, whether hardwoods, pines or mixed species, definitely is critical to not only improving habitat for multiple wildlife species, but also is a great aid for outdoors enthusiasts,” says Clemons, a longtime outdoors writer.

is owned by private landowners.

Oates says the many uses of the state’s forests prove to be another factor in conservation.

“Diverse ownership is a big reason,” he says. “A lot of people own the land for hunting, but if they need to harvest it, they will.”

Land ownership is growing as more and more people realize the importance of the state’s forests for their own recreation and enjoyment, as well as that of others.

The number of acres is nothing to be scoffed at, either, Oates says.

“We’ve had an increase in acreage of timberland,” he says. “Over the last 10 to 12 years, there has been an increase of about 1 million acres.”

And outdoor recreation has a significant impact on the state’s economy, according to a survey by the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation.

The outdoors “industry” is about a $1.7 billion-a-year institution and creates about 30,500 jobs with wages and salaries of about $785 million. The foundation’s survey also reports that about $186 million in federal taxes and another $166 million in state taxes are collected.

“For hunting and game species, forest conservation can open the land to new growth beneficial for nutrition, rearing young and more enjoyment during hunting season,” Clemons says. “Hikers, campers and other recreational users also benefit from forest management with more enjoyment of songbirds, wildlife and better access to public and private land.

“While management may, at times, cause a bit of anguish due to the aesthetics of cutting or burning, the payoff comes with a healthier forest for future outings.”

– Budd McLaughlin alagriculture.com

//

35

36

//

A l aba m a Agriculture

Environment and Conservation

Battling Drought T

he future of Alabama agriculture might be found in the streams that run through the state. A 10-year study at the University of Alabama in Huntsville and Auburn University has produced promising results on creating irrigation practices that are both environmentally friendly and sustainable.

Sam Fowler, director of the water resource center at Auburn, says Alabama has about 120,000 irrigated acres compared to about 1.5 million each in Georgia and Mississippi. The hope is that in five to 10 years, Alabama will have 500,000 to 1 million acres irrigated, he says.

The main research was done

by Auburn and the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and included research from other Alabama universities. The research found that if farmers could harvest water from streams during the winter when water levels were high and store it in an upland reservoir, it could be used during dry spells in the summer.

Traditional irrigation using groundwater wasn’t always an

option for Alabama like it is for producers in neighboring states, so that’s one reason why farmers haven’t used as much irrigation, Fowler says. Alabama is also one of the rainiest states in the U.S., which might be why farmers haven’t considered the expense.

However, Alabama soils don’t hold moisture well, so dry spells during the growing season can jeopardize production. Irrigating crops makes a huge difference, says Richard McNider, professor of science, University of Alabama in Huntsville.

Their research found a 90 bushel-per-acre yield improvement between irrigated and rain-fed corn. Farmers who normally yielded 100-110 bushels of corn via rain-fed methods harvested 200 bushels with irrigation. That’s better than the 160-bushel average of rain-fed production an Iowa farmer gets, McNider says.

And preventing loss in years that see intense droughts can really help farmers.

“We have a lot of water in the state, but it doesn’t always come when you want it,” says John

photo by jeff adkins

State seeks to expand farmers’ irrigation efforts

Christy, state climatologist at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

Beyond this research, state legislators have acknowledged the importance of irrigation for the state’s economy.

In spring 2012, a new state tax credit was created to encourage farmers to build irrigation infrastructure. The state bill was passed independently from the universities’ irrigation research, but will help irrigation investments cost less for farmers.

– Debbie Carlson

We are proud to be a part of Alabama agriculture

100 North Point Center East Suite 400 • Alpharetta, GA 30022 www.goldenpeanut.com

alagriculture.com

//

37

Local Food

Something SPECIAL

A labama is widely known for its peanuts, poultry and catfish. But farmers of the state are also working hard each year to churn out specialty crops like blueberries, peaches and sw eet potatoes. Thanks to a USDA-funded federal grant designed specifically for specialty crops, these growers can take advantage of a generous opportunity to make sure their business is up to standards in the competitive market.

The Specialty Crop Block Grant, managed by the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries (ADAI), was put in place to help enhance the competitiveness of Alabama specialty crops. Roger

Templeton, manager of Escambia Blueberry Growers, Inc., knows first-hand the positive impact it can have.

Packaging Improvements

Templeton oversees packaging at the Blueberry Growers Association, and saw the need for improvement at the facility. The association applied for the grant in 2010 and was awarded $50,000 after their proposal concerning food safety and packaging was approved.

“The grant allowed us to build a temperaturecontrolled room that we use to cool blueberries and package them,” Templeton says. “This has helped us extend our shipping season by about a month or two.”

Roger Templeton, manager of Escambia Blueberry Growers, Inc., has been able to improve his operation with specialty crop grants.

38

//

A l aba m a Agriculture

photo by todd bennett

photo by jeff adkins

photo by jeffrey s. Otto

Federal grant helps specialty crop growers develop their businesses

photo by jeffrey s. Otto

alagriculture.com alagriculture.com

//

39

Representing the interests of growers through promotions, legislation, research and educational programs 1810 Reeves St. Dothan, AL 36303 334-792-6482 www.alpeanuts.com

40

//

A l aba m a Agriculture

Templeton explains that as soon as a berry is picked off the vine, it begins to deteriorate. Escambia Blueberry Growers, Inc. ran into problems throughout the hotter months of July and August because berries would be too soft to ship.

“Removing the heat from the berries quickly helps them last longer and makes them more attractive to consumers,” Templeton says. He adds that not only has the cooling room made a huge difference in that area, but it has also allowed them to keep employment of blueberry pickers and packers longer.

“Seeing what has happened with longer seasonal employment is a huge benefit of the grant,” Templeton says.

“And consumers receive a better product because of it.”

Application Process

As for the application process of the grant, those seeking funding can submit a proposal that must show how their project impacts and produces measurable outcomes for the specialty crop industry and/or the public, rather than a single organization.

Through the State of Alabama, the definition of specialty crops includes fruits and vegetables, tree nuts, Christmas trees, greenhouse and sod, herbs, dried fruits and floriculture.

Applicants can submit proposals on a number of topics, including food safety, research, pest and disease control, new seed varieties and more.

Not only are Alabama specialty crops gaining popularity with the help of the grant, but consumers can also get a hands-on experience at the growing number of U-Pick farms. In the summer, that means blueberries, strawberries and blackberries, while pumpkins and apples take center stage in the fall.

Those interested in picking their own produce can visit the ADAI’s website, agi.alabama.gov/ alabama_u-pick, which features a listing of all Alabama U-Pick operations.

– Rachel Bertone

What’s Online Visit us online at alagriculture.com

For Alabama’s blueberry industry, timely harvest and packaging are essential to the quality of the crop.

alagriculture.com

//

41

Local Food

42

//

Alabama Agriculture

Small Farms, Big Cities Inner-city farms promote healthy eating, education and availability

That’s all it took for Montgomery Deputy Mayor Jeff Downes to start changing his life.

He helped start an urban farm that’s tucked behind the Montgomery Advertiser building in an old rail yard next to the Alabama River. Downes simply thought the garden would be a good use of the empty space, which was an eyesore for people driving into the city.

Then he ate a carrot – freshly picked and washed.

“It was an epiphany,” he says. “If that carrot is good what else might be good?”

Kale, beets and arugula followed, grown in the 25 raised beds that now produce about 80 different fruits, vegetables and herbs. He’s since lost 30 pounds and learned he likes grilled eggplant with Greek seasoning as much as a lot of his fried Southern favorites. His kids now ask for salad.

It’s a personal shift for Downes and a cultural shift spreading out of small plots of vacant land in cities across the U.S. For Montgomery, the downtown urban farm is one aspect of a larger city plan for schools and lowincome neighborhoods to have similar small farms.

photography by jeffrey s. Otto

Just one bite.

Edwin Marty, executive director of the Hampstead Institute in Montgomery, Ala., has emerged as a leader in the state’s urban farming movement.

alagriculture.com

//

43

One major initiative in Alabama is to educate volunteers and students on how to grow produce.

“The growth of this concept moves beyond the downtown site and into the community,” Downes says.

The model harkens back to before the era of railroads when every city was surrounded by farms, says Edwin Marty, executive director of the Hampstead Institute, a nonprofit teaching farm that has the farm in downtown Montgomery as well as one in Hampstead.

“The best way to make sure people eat good, healthy food is to make it available,” Marty says.

The institute sells the produce and flowers from both farms to local restaurants and through a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, where residents pay a fee to receive a box of what’s fresh.

That in turn supports education programs on the farms, with the vision Marty describes as “a garden in every school and a school in every garden.”

“We’ve been able to develop new school gardens, and in addition provide training for their teachers on how to utilize the school garden,” he says.

44

//

A l aba m a Agriculture

Teaching Students to Garden

The Jones Valley Teaching Farm – a project Marty helped start before moving to the Hampstead Institute – is working on a similar principle in Birmingham. The 3,500 students who visited the teaching farm in 2012 learned about plant science and harvesting before taking their produce to the neighboring YMCA youth center kitchen to cook it up.

“Squash – being in the South, you’d think most people have seen squash grow, but a lot of kids haven’t and are hesitant to try it,” says Bree Belcher, nutrition coordinator at Jones Valley Teaching Farm. “Then we teach them it’s a fruit and full of vitamin A and teach them how to harvest it and sauté it in olive oil with fresh Parmesan. They love it.”

Belcher says they hope to have 5,000 students next year and to keep expanding.

Moving toward that expansion, one pilot program that is in the works includes a farmers market at Glen Iris Elementary School in downtown Birmingham run by the

Huntsville has more than 20 community gardens across the city.

Hampstead Institute farm manager Jetson Brown and other staff are responsible for monitoring the growth of the vegetables and fruits grown on the urban farm. They sell shares of the harvest to local residents.

school’s fifth graders. The students are responsible for everything, including accounting, stocking and marketing.

“We’re hoping it’s successful and other schools will want to replicate it,” Belcher says.

Urban Gardening Goes Online

With more people caring where their food comes from, another Alabama entrepreneur is working on connecting people to local food. Freshfully.com co-owner Jen Barnett describes her website as an eBay for farmers.

“We wanted to eat more from local farms but we couldn’t find it,” she says. “We saw cows and we saw fields but we weren’t sure where to get the food.”

Barnett’s team has created a website where users can enter a zip code and locate fruits, vegetables and meats in their area and where to pick them up. It’s the next step for CSAs, Barnett says.

Freshfully helps connect customers to farmers while also compiling food galleries of what’s in season

with recipes. The site takes a 14 percent cut for the marketing, organizing and location, and are in the process of expanding within Alabama and throughout the South.

“It’s important to us that farmers see a big cut, it encourages them to grow more and grow more diverse and healthier foods,” Barnett says. “We want it to be lucrative for them to grow vegetables.”

The Freshfully offices became a CSA exchange spot, which led to the opening of the website’s first brick and mortar store in May 2012. Farmers deliver directly to the store and Freshfully sells to consumers. It’s like a farmers market that stays open until 7 p.m. seven days a week and sells nearly all Alabama-grown products.

“There’s no question people want to buy food grown in Alabama,” Barnett says. “They want to know where it is and they want to find it. There’s a lot of pride in eating local.”

– Sonja Bjelland alagriculture.com

//

45

Research and Development

Leading the Way

Alabama Cooperative Extension is helping Gulf Coast farmers stay one step ahead A mong the unique

Auburn University researchers in the Gulf Coast region are currently studying diseases found on cotton plants.

46

//

A l aba m a Agriculture

challenges faced by farmers in Alabama’s Gulf Coast region is an abundance of moisture. The afternoon thunderstorms that soak southern Alabama soil with rainfall can cause certain plant diseases to flourish. If left unchecked, these diseases can be problems that can endanger an entire season’s worth of crops.

“The closer you get to water, the more difficult your disease control becomes,” says Dr. Austin Hagan, a plant pathologist at Auburn University who works with fellow researchers at Alabama Cooperative Extension to help farmers predict, spot and respond to plant diseases and other agricultural challenges.

Small grains, corn, peanuts, cotton, citrus, pecans and ornamentals are some of the crops that Hagan and Auburn University researchers are currently studying in ongoing research trials that compare crop varieties to determine which are most productive and resistant to disease. The field trials also evaluate fungicides to offer farmers an

independent analysis of which products provide the most effective treatment.

“The variety testing compares varieties from different companies side by side in an unbiased research trial to see which ones perform best in this area,” says Jarrod Jones, associate director of the Gulf Coast Research and Extension Center in Fairhope where Hagan also conducts most of his research. “That’s an important thing because we have new varieties coming on the market and the testing allows farmers to see that data before they make their planting or seed decisions.”

A Cotton Leaf Spot Disease

Of all the research done at the center in the past year on Gulf crops, both Hagan and Jones sound the alarm about one disease above others: Corynespora leaf spot in cotton.

For decades, early and late leaf spot have been highly destructive diseases in Alabama peanuts. The leaf spot fungus produces lesions that can lead to the total defoliation of plant leaves and – in peanuts at least – can cause yields to plummet.

Leaf spot hadn’t been found in Alabama cotton until 2011, even though the fungus showed up in irrigated cotton in Georgia five years ago.

“We saw it in 2011 in Alabama statewide,” Hagan says. “In 2012, it was worse. It’s particularly troublesome in cotton with a highyield potential, but it’s not limited to irrigated cotton.”

The overall impact of the disease on cotton yields is still unclear. Hagan and other Auburn researchers are currently studying the effect of different levels of defoliation in the cotton canopy on yields. They are also evaluating which cotton varieties may be most sensitive to the disease and which fungicides could work best at combating it.

Aside from fungicide application, Hagan’s research indicates that one of the most effective early controls of the disease may be crop rotation.

“Instead of growing cotton every year, you’d grow peanuts or soybeans or corn and alternate those with cotton to reduce the amount of disease pressure you get early in the season,” he says.

Leaf spot is a primary example of a challenge that could hit Gulf growers especially hard because of rainfall patterns that fuel the fungus growth causing the disease.

“If you’re up in northern Alabama where you have a drier climate, this disease is not going to be as much of an issue,” Hagan says. “When you get down to southern Alabama, there’s enough moisture out there to really drive its development. The folks down in the Gulf area are particularly vulnerable to this kind of disease.

“There’s so much concern about Corynespora leaf spot in cotton because we don’t have any really good answers,” he adds. “We’re trying to get the word to growers that it’s out there.”

– Kirsten Ferguson

Corynespora leaf spot disease can be highly destructive to cotton yields. This disease is being researched by Auburn University scientists in the Gulf Coast region.

Visit Our

advertisers

Alabama Ag Credit/ Alabama Farm Credit www.alabamaagcredit.com Alabama Farmers Cooperative Inc. www.alafarm.com Alabama International Trade Center www.aitc.ua.edu Alabama Peanut Producers Association www.alpeanuts.com Alabama Power Company www.alabamapower.com Alabama Rural Electric Association www.areapower.coop Alabama State Port Authority www.asdd.com ALFA Insurance www.alfains.com

What’s Online Learn more about Alabama cotton at ALAGRICULTURE.COM

BlueCross BlueShield of Alabama www.alabamablue.com First Financial Bank www.ffb1.com

First South Farm Credit ACA www.firstsouthland.com Golden Peanut www.goldenpeanut.com Harvest Select Catfish www.harvestselect.com Regions Bank www.regions.com Southeastern Cotton Ginners Association www.southern-southeastern.org Tate Farms www.tatefarmsal.com Thompson Tractor www.thompsontractor.com TriGreen Equipment www.trigreenequipment.com Tuskegee University www.tuskegee.edu University of Alabama in Huntsville http://alclimate.nsstc.uah.edu

alagriculture.com

//

47

AD INDEX

23 Alabama Ag Credit/ Alabama Farm Credit

C4 Alabama Farmers Cooperative Inc.

Credit ACA

36 Alabama International Trade Center

40 Alabama Peanut Producers Association

C3 Alabama Power Company 48 Alabama Rural

Electric Association

36 Alabama State Port Authority

2 ALFA Insurance 17 BlueCross BlueShield

of Alabama

40 First Financial Bank 16 First South Farm

37 Golden Peanut 4 Harvest Select Catfish C2 Regions Bank 19 Southeastern Cotton

Ginners Association

40 Tate Farms 14 Thompson Tractor 34 TriGreen Equipment 27 Tuskegee University 37 University of Alabama

in Huntsville

ALABAMA AGRICULTURE

2013 Edition, Volume 2

journal communications inc.

Content Director Jessy Yancey Proofreading Manager Raven Petty Content Coordinator Rachel Bertone Contributing Writers Sonja Bjelland, Debbie Carlson, Christy Rogers Brown, Kirsten Ferguson, Kevin Litwin, Kim Madlom, John McBryde, Budd McLaughlin, Darryal Ray Senior Graphic Designers stacey allis, Laura Gallagher, Jake shores, Kris Sexton, Vikki Williams Graphic Designers erica lampley, kara leiby, kacey passmore Senior Photographers Jeff Adkins, Brian McCord Staff Photographers Martin B. cherry, Michael Conti Color Imaging Technician Alison Hunter Ad Production Manager Katie Middendorf Ad Traffic Assistants Krystin Lemmon, Patricia Moisan Chairman Greg Thurman President/Publisher Bob Schwartzman Executive Vice President Ray Langen Senior V.P./Operations Casey Hester Senior V.P./Agribusiness Publishing KIm Newsom Holmberg V.P./External Communications Teree Caruthers V.P./Agribusiness Sales Rhonda Graham V.P./Sales Herb Harper Controller Chris Dudley Accounts Receivable Coordinator Diana Guzman Sales Support Project Manager Sara Quint IT Director Daniel Cantrell Web Creative Director Allison Davis Photography Director Jeffrey S. Otto Creative Services Director Christina Carden Creative Technology Analyst Becca Ary Distribution Director Gary Smith

Alabama Agriculture is published annually by Journal Communications Inc. and is distributed by the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries. For advertising information or to direct questions or comments about the magazine, contact Journal Communications Inc. at (615) 771-0080 or by email at info@jnlcom.com.

grow, cook, eat, learn

recipes, tips and food for thought

For more information about the Alabama Department of Agriculture, contact: Brett C. Hall, Deputy Commissioner 1445 Federal Drive, Montgomery, AL 36107 (334) 240-7100 or by email at brett.hall@agi.alabama.gov No public funds were used in the publishing of this magazine. Š Copyright 2013 Journal Communications Inc., 725 Cool Springs Blvd., Suite 400, Franklin, TN 37067, (615) 771-0080. All rights reserved. No portion of this magazine may be reproduced in whole or in part without written consent.

Member Member

Browse quick and easy dinner ideas at farmflavor.com

48

//

A l aba m a Agriculture

The Association of Magazine Media Custom Content Council