Alabama landowners’ roots run deep when it comes to conservation. “My job is to do what’s best for the land ecologically and environmentally,” said timber consultant Brian Agnew, who serves on the Alabama Farmers Federation State Forestry Committee. Agnew and fellow forest-focused Alabamians use a mix of voluntary and mandatory conservation programs to wisely steward […]

Smartphone apps, spreadsheets and scads of automated systems help drive progress across Alabama farms. “That’s the thing about farmers,” said Dorman Grace, a Walker County farmer and Alabama Farmers Federation state board member. “One farmer might learn something and pass it on to someone else. We’re always growing and getting better at what we do.” […]

Towering pines line roadways in Alabama, a state where construction is booming, and lumber prices are soaring. Meanwhile, timberland owners whose raw materials are in demand suffer stagnant timber values. “We supply that wood, and the wood is there, but the price hasn’t gone up for us,” said Elliott Poole, who owns timberland in Sumter […]

Zero. Zip. Zilch. That’s how much rain Terry Wyatt’s 500-acre cotton crop received in September. “Cotton likes hot weather, but you have to have some rain,” said Wyatt, whose non-irrigated cropland in Harpersville was in the heart of Alabama’s most persistent drought based on the U.S. Drought Monitor. “We got in a pattern early. The […]