HARTFORD, Ala. (WTVY) – The TRIALS project, a grant-funded program through HudsonAlpha Wiregrass, is giving four local farmers the chance to try agricultural technology directly in their fields at no cost to them, as rising expenses and flat commodity prices continue to pressure farm operations across the region.
Farmer William Birdsong, who has worked the land since age 13, is among those participating in the two-year pilot program in the Wiregrass. Birdsong spent years as a field agronomist at the Wiregrass Research and Extension Center in Headland. His peanut fields in Hartford are now part of a research trial evaluating whether new inputs with the help of imaging tools can reduce costs and improve yields.
“Ever since COVID, expenses have increased dramatically,” Birdsong said. “You’ve got the fuel prices…and the commodity prices really haven’t changed. They’re about the same or less than what they were in the 1980s or even the early 1990s, and so because of that, that creates a very difficult economic situation.”
What’s being studied
Researchers are applying a product called StrongSoil, made by Chonex, to select rows in Birdsong’s peanut field. Each farm in the trial allocates 20 acres — 10 for test plots and 10 for control. Green flags mark treated rows; white flags mark control rows where standard crop production continues. Drone imaging from Southgen Solutions is being used to monitor crop health across the different sections.
Dustin Herring, agriculture program manager for HudsonAlpha Wiregrass, said the initiative is designed to connect research with practical outcomes for local farmers.
“Our initiative with HudsonAlpha Wiregrass is to bridge the gap between state-of-the-art research and economic development, working with our farmers and ultimately serving the Wiregrass community,” Herring said.
Herring described what success looks like to him at the end of this project.
“For me, in this project, success looks like knowledge. Success looks like data,” he said. “There’s so many things that we’re kind of building the plane as we’re flying it.”
Sam Gray, chief operating officer of Chonex, said StrongSoil is a bio-stimulant product intended to stimulate plant growth and improve the efficiency of other inputs farmers are already using.
“What we are giving users is a lower-cost input that they can put on their crop to maintain an increased yield,” Gray said. “Hopefully that increases the bottom line. Or, in these days, they are losing less money on some crops.”
Scott Deavers, founder and CEO of Southgen Solutions, said the drones used in the trial carry specialized cameras that go beyond standard aerial photography.
“These cameras — some of them are infrared, some of them are high focus greens, reds, and blues — and what that helps us do is analyze how the chlorophyll is feeling in the plant,” Deavers said. “If the chlorophyll is healthy in the plant, then you will have a healthy stimulation in the system.”
Deavers described the process as a comprehensive field analysis.
“It’s not just flying around taking random pictures,” he said. “It’s more of a sophisticated mapping to give us a whole trend spectrum of how the field is feeling in ways we can say and ways we can’t see it.”
Herring said early data from the trial has been encouraging, though conclusions remain premature.
“We’re seeing some great initial data points,” he said. “Ultimately, we don’t actually know what those mean and we’re just taking every piece of data, evaluating it unbiasedly, and hoping that what we see at the end is an increased yield.”
Farming is evolving
Birdsong said he understands why some farmers may be reluctant to try new technology, but encouraged others to follow the results.
“I’d say there’s nothing wrong with being apprehensive,” Birdsong said. “But I would say that knowledge is power and so, therefore, let’s watch the trials, let’s watch the results.”
He said the Wiregrass farming community has a broader stake in the outcome. Peanut farming is a $211 million industry in Alabama.
“All these fields through the Wiregrass are an economic engine for the state of Alabama and for our Wiregrass,” Birdsong said. “Technology is always evolving and the adoption of it in agriculture and new means and practices are always a part of evolving.”
Results from the trial plots are expected at harvest this fall.
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