Southern Ag Services

What Southern Ag Services does

Southern Ag Services (legal name Southern Ag Inc.) is a privately held agricultural consulting firm founded in 2008 by Dr. Alan Blaine, Mitt Wardlaw, and Brian "Bozo" Ward and headquartered at 123 Jefferson St., Starkville, Mississippi. The firm delivers year-round "Cradle to Grave" crop management advisory to row crop growers across the Mid-South — Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, North Alabama, and South Tennessee — covering corn, soybeans, cotton, rice, peanuts, and milo. It also performs contract research for agricultural input companies on major Mid-South agronomic crops.

The service portfolio rests on four offerings: crop consulting, precision agriculture, in-house R&D, and soil sampling, supported by add-on modules in soil fertility, planting prescriptions, yield data analysis, irrigation management, and variable rate recommendations. The precision agriculture stack centers on Ag Leader hardware (yield monitors, guidance systems, dry and liquid rate controllers, planter controls) integrated with grid soil sampling at 2.5/5/10-acre resolution, zone sampling using EM technology (measuring compaction, water-holding capacity, and texture in 8-inch increments to 3 feet), volumetric soil moisture-based irrigation management, and replicated side-by-side variable rate vs. flat rate trials that underpin a published $20/acre profit uplift in corn and soybeans over a 3-year average. The R&D group maintains small demo plots and on-farm test sites across the consultant network's footprint, which has access to over 350,000 acres of crops.

Commercially, the firm combines professional services with hardware: customized, quote-based crop consulting packages delivered through a territory-based field consultant network, Ag Leader equipment sales with installation/calibration/agronomic interpretation, and contract research services for input companies. Distribution is direct via the consultant network across the Mid-South, supplemented by Alliance Ag Risk Management, an affiliated entity co-founded in 2009 by the same owners that shares offices and cross-sells crop insurance and marketing services. Ownership remains with the three co-founders; since 2022 the firm has added outside CEO Cam Smith and CFO Blake Barksdale and built out R&D and data-analytics headcount, with no institutional funding disclosed.

Name

Southern Ag Services

Legal name

Southern Ag Inc.

Website

https://southernagllc.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Southern Ag Services is a privately held Mid-South agricultural consulting firm founded in 2008, providing year-round crop consulting, precision agriculture, soil sampling, and in-house R&D services to row-crop growers across Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, North Alabama, and South Tennessee.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Agricultural Consulting Services

NAICS

Farm Management Services (115116), Support Activities for Crop Production (11511)

SIC

Agricultural Services (700)

akta.pro primary industry

Yield Optimization & Crop Performance Consulting (AFACABAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Crop Scouting & Field Monitoring Services (AFACABAD), Nutrient Management Planning & Fertility Programs (AFACABAB), Plant Tissue, Soil & Water Sampling Coordination (Agronomy-Focused) (AFACABAH)

Keywords

• Agricultural consulting services
• Precision agriculture
• Crop management
• Variable rate planting
• Soil sampling services

Headquarters

HQ city

Starkville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Crop Consulting Services: Professional consulting services provided by a network of expert consultants offering year-round 'Cradle to Grave' farm management support including variety selection, burndown, planting dates, populations, and in-season management decisions for weed, insect, irrigation, and disease management.
2. Soil Sampling Services: Third-party soil sampling services including grid soil samples and zone sampling with EM technology, providing variable rate recommendations for soil fertility.
3. Precision Agriculture Technology Sales and Service: Full sales and service dealer for Ag Leader equipment including yield monitors, guidance systems, dry and liquid rate controllers, and planter controls. Also provides installation, calibration, processing, and agronomic interpretation services.
4. Contract Research Services: R&D contract research services on major agronomic crops grown in Mississippi and adjacent Mid-South states, providing input product assessments to support product development and agricultural consultant crop production recommendations.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

Southern Ag Services is an agricultural consulting firm providing year-round 'Cradle to Grave' crop management, precision agriculture services, in-house R&D testing, and soil sampling for row crop growers. Its consultant network delivers agronomic advisory on variety selection, planting, fertility, irrigation, and pest management, supported by Ag Leader precision equipment sales and variable rate planting prescriptions. The firm also operates as an Ag Leader equipment dealer and provides contract research services to agricultural input suppliers.

Product overview

Southern Ag Services is an agricultural consulting firm offering a portfolio of services built around four core offerings: Crop Consulting (year-round, cradle-to-grave advisory covering variety selection, planting, and in-season management), Precision Agriculture (technology-driven variable rate planting, yield monitoring, and electronics), Full Service R&D (in-house crop input trials and variety testing), and Soil Sampling (grid and zone-based sampling with EM technology). These core services are supported by add-on modules including Soil Fertility Management, Planting Prescriptions, Yield Data Analysis, Irrigation Management, and Ag Leader Equipment Sales and Service. The company operates across the Mid-South with access to over 350,000 acres of crops for testing.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• $20/ac profit increase by variable rate planting vs flat rate in corn and soybeans (3-year average)

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Alliance Ag Risk ManagementcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2009Alliance Ag Risk Management is a related company with overlapping ownership with Southern Ag Consulting. The companies work together to ensure every farm is maximized and protected through collaborative management combining agronomic expertise with economic and risk management solutions. They share offices, have cross-customer segments, and provide end-to-end farm management including crop insurance policies and marketing strategies.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Agworld: Cloud-based agronomy and farm management platform used by independent crop advisors to deliver recommendations, record-keeping, and profitability analysis—closely aligned with Southern Ag's crop consulting and variable rate prescription workflows, serving a similar advisor-to-grower motion.
• Taranis: Precision agriculture intelligence platform offering AI-driven field scouting, variable rate prescriptions, and crop monitoring—comparable to Southern Ag's crop scouting, yield monitoring, and precision ag service lines across Mid-South row crops.

Broad incumbents

• Nutrien Ag Solutions: Largest U.S. ag retail network distributing crop inputs alongside in-house digital agronomy and precision ag services—competes with Southern Ag for the same Mid-South growers but as part of a national retail footprint with proprietary Loveland Products.
• Simplot Grower Solutions: Ag retail arm of J.R. Simplot offering crop input distribution alongside precision ag and agronomic advisory services across the Western U.S. and parts of the Mid-South—comparable retail-led agronomy model that competes for the same row crop advisory wallet share.
• Granular (Corteva): Corteva's farm management software providing agronomic planning, field records, and profitability analysis—directly comparable to Southern Ag's profit mapping and field-level decision support, but bundled into a national SaaS platform tied to Corteva's seed and crop protection business.
• Climate FieldView (Bayer): Bayer-owned digital agronomy platform offering variable rate prescriptions, yield mapping, and field-level data analytics on a national footprint—overlapping with Southern Ag's precision agriculture and variable rate planting services but at far greater scale and as part of a seed/chemical retail portfolio.
• WinField United (Land O'Lakes): Crop input and agronomy service arm of Land O'Lakes operating Answer Plot test sites and a national network of field agronomists—directly comparable in-house R&D trial network to Southern Ag's 350,000-acre test platform, but at national scale and integrated with a major ag input brand.

Emerging players

• Truterra (Land O'Lakes): Sustainability and precision ag platform from Land O'Lakes enabling farmers and agronomists to capture data, generate variable rate prescriptions, and monetize stewardship outcomes—closely overlaps with Southern Ag's expansion into conservation agronomy and variable rate recommendations.
• Indigo Ag: Agronomy and ag services company providing soil sampling, precision agronomy, and sustainability program enrollment for row crop farmers—comparable to Southern Ag's soil sampling, R&D trials, and emerging conservation practice offerings.

Regional players

• Jimmy Sanders Inc. Legacy Mid-South ag retail and crop consulting operation (now integrated into a larger ag retail network) historically competing for the same Delta row crop advisory clients as Southern Ag, including via alumni hires.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/southernaginc
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/southern-ag-consulting
• Instagraminstagram.com/southernag_

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Southern Ag Services