Sunbelt Ag Expo Research Farm

The Darrell Williams Research Farm at the Sunbelt Ag Expo boasts 530 acres of farmland devoted to year-round research that supports southeastern agriculture with large acreage research plots and demonstration opportunities. Crops include cotton, peanuts, corn, and Bermuda grass for forage. New technologies in seed varieties, cropping systems, crop protection, soil fertility, irrigation, precision ag, and equipment are developed, tested, and demonstrated at this location. A team of skilled farm workers assists University researchers, Extension Specialists, and Industry representatives with the work, bringing the latest discoveries and technologies directly to the farmers. Our goal is to try and true the latest technology so when it reaches the farm, it is ready to go to work to enhance our farmers’ economic and environmental sustainability.

This year, this Sunbelt Ag Expo will not be hosting a formal Field Day. For questions about the farm, please reach out to Cody Mitchell – Vice President, Agronomic Research.

To view past year’s information scroll below. 

 

2025 Farmer of the Year – Steve Hopkins – Virginia

Steve Hopkins Virginia Farmer of the Year 2025 Seven generations of Hopkins family members have worked to maintain and grow their Riverview Farms Cattle operation in Louisa. Steve and sons Blake and Garrett run the 1200+ acre cattle, crops, and poultry operation as...

2025 Farmer of the Year – Jeff Wilson – South Carolina

Jeff WIlson South Carolina Farmer of the Year 2025 Cotton Hills Farm in Lowrys has been operating continuously since 1882, when the original 100 acre home place was gifted to Theodosia Abell by her father on the occasion of her wedding to Joseph Wilson. Cotton, small...

2025 Farmer of the Year – David “Harrell” Overman – North Carolina

David "Harrell" Overman North Carolina Farmer of the Year 2025 Harrell Overman is a sixth-generation Wayne County farmer whose grandfather rented him a 13-acre tobacco farm to work when he was just 14 years old. He and his wife, Lorenda, have been farming row crops...

2025 Farmer of the Year – Kent Hamilton – Georgia

Kent Hamilton Georgia Farmer of the Year 2025 Kent Hamilton is CEO of Southern Valley Fruit and Vegetable, Inc., based in Norman Park. Kent said, “It was founded in 1987 and is a women-owned and family-operated corporation that’s spent generations growing, packing,...

2025 Farmer of the Year – James “Jim” Alderman – Florida

James "Jim" Alderman Florida Farmer of the Year 2025 A fourth-generation Floridian, Jim Alderman was one of eight children born into a farming family that first came to Florida in the 1820s. As a child he worked in the orange groves and helped out with his father and...

2025 Farmer of the Year – Jeremy Allen – Arkansas

Jeremy Allen Arkansas Farmer of the Year 2025 Jeremy Allen of Bismarck has deep family roots in Hot Springs County. His grandfather started a dairy in the 1950s, and his parents were poultry farmers who built three chicken layer houses. Jeremy bought his first set of...

2025 Farmer of the Year – Dr. Issac “Nealy” Barrett, Jr. – Alabama

Dr. Issac "Nealy" Barrett, Jr. Alabama Farmer of the Year 2025 Bar Neal Farms in Wetumpka is a fifth-generation farming and ranching operation with deep roots in central Alabama. Nealy Barrett Jr. started his own cow herd at the age of thirteen with twelve stocker...
Research Trials at Darrell Williams Research Farm Sunbelt Ag Expo

Research in Motion: Trials at the Sunbelt Ag Expo Research Farm

If you ride anywhere in rural South Georgia, you are bound to see dust in the air and tractors and planters in the field moving full-speed ahead…well, really at a tortoise pace.  An unseasonably cool, dry spring has farmers in this area of the country a bit behind at...
Face to Face Relationships Are Made at the Sunbelt Ag Expo

The “Old-Fashioned” Way of Doing Business

It’s so easy to pick up our phone or computer, pull up our favorite search engine, type in a term, and search for what we want to know.  Directions, a recipe, the best way to do something, the latest trend, how to fix something, the best price for an item - you name...

SUNBELT IN REVIEW 2024: CAROLINA’S FIELD, FOREST & WATER

CAROLINA'S FIELD, FOREST & WATER - Season 3, Ep. 8 SC Governor's School for Agriculture at De la Howe In this special edition of our student-led podcast, our host Dell Brockman and field reporter Carson Griggs go on-location to the annual SUNBELT AG EXPO in...