Thank a farmer: Will Burks uses 'precision farming' to continue doing what he loves

Apr. 20—SIMCOE — Burks Farms has become well known for its strawberries, and it's easy to see why.

For the last 30 years, owner Will Burks has been growing and supplying the community with what he considers to be some of the sweetest, most flavorful varieties available. But, as he says, "You can't put all your eggs into one basket."

Burks Farms is now offering much more than strawberries.

Burks grew up on a farm that specialized in row crops such as cotton, soy beans and sweet potatoes. It wasn't until the wife of a coworker, Kenneth Whitt, at Walmart Distribution Center, began bringing in her freshly picked strawberries that he began to look into starting his own farm. He said he began making visits to the Whitt's strawberry field, helping them pick the berries, and eventually asked if they would be interested in helping him to grow his own strawberries.

"I was always told to get a job and to not stay on the farm, that was the mentality. But with the love I had for growing stuff — when I started growing berries and I started seeing them grow — I started getting bigger and bigger. Then I eventually quit Walmart Distribution and started farming full-time," Burks said.

Burks would go on to be a pioneer in the local strawberry industry by being the first grower in Cullman to begin using the plasticulture hill training system. He also said he was the first to bring commercial varieties to the area.

Burks also played a crucial role in the revitalization of what has now become one of Cullman's largest annual festivals. Burks isn't sure of the exact year the Strawberry Festival stopped taking place, but during the late '90s he was one of the festival's board members who orchestrated its return.

Burks said that as difficult as it may be to imagine, given the festival's current popularity, at the time he was the only farmer in Cullman to offer strawberries at the festival.

"I was actually the only grower at the time bringing strawberries to the festival; which now it's grown to where there's no way that just one grower could even grow enough," Burks said.

Due to the unusually cold temperatures this winter — particularly those during the week of Christmas — Burks said he is expecting a much lower than usual yield from this year's crop of strawberries. He isn't overly concerned though, the lesson of just how unpredictable the farming industry can be is one he learned many years ago and has adapted to meet each new challenge.

"Farming changes. We've had to change the way we do things throughout the years, we call it precision farming. You get more precise with your fertilization, and that sort of thing, instead of being wasteful," Burks said.

Burks said that in addition to his strawberries he has become known throughout the community for his tomatoes, sweet corn, pumpkins and mums. Most recently, thanks in large part to his partner Sylvia Duncan, Burks said they have begun offering a variety of cut flowers which they will be bringing to this year's Strawberry Festival.

"We have adjusted by growing more tomato plants and we've gone into the cut flowers. You can't throw all your eggs into one basket. When you lose something, you've got to do more of the other. That's what we're doing, we've got more tomatoes planted than usual because we've got more time because we don't have as many berries," Burks said.

Burks said one of the keys to surviving as a local farmer for the past three decades was that, "You either have to be really big or you have to be small," and has had to scale back his operation within the last several years. He began driving a school bus for the Cullman County School System and currently works for the county.

He may not technically list farming as his full-time occupation, but to Burks, this is just a part of his "precision farming" strategy to find ways to continue his passion.

"It's a circle to try to make it work. That's how I've made it work, to keep doing what I love to do and to be able to afford to do it," Burks said.

Because as Burks put it, "You have to love to do it. If you don't love it, you might as well not do it."