ALFA Agricultural Services and Research Building, ALFA Soil Lab, Soil, Forage and Water Testing Lab. This Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station may be known by many names, but it has one goal.

“The lab was founded to provide research-based fertilizer and lime recommendations to the farming community throughout Alabama,” said Dr. Jessica Davis, Manager of the Soil, Forage and Water Testing Laboratory.

The ALFA Agricultural Services and Research Building at Auburn University serves rural and farming communities in numerous ways. They test and analyze a multitude of agricultural materials such as soil, water, plant tissue, poultry litter, forages and feeds. Rural communities are then enhanced through testing soil and tissue samples of lawns and gardens, as well as water resources like wells.

Over the course of the lab's existence, it has grown and transformed in many ways to improve Alabama agriculture.

“The laboratory still serves the general farming community in the state, but we also provide our services to private homeowners, lawn services and hunting clubs,” Davis said. “I would say currently we run more private homeowner samples then at any other time in our history.”

The lab in conjunction with Auburn University has been providing local farmers with information to better their sustainability practices.

The lab provides research-based recommendations for fertilizer and lime to farmers throughout the state. These recommendations have been carefully studied at Auburn University for 70 years to maximize crop output while minimizing cost to the farmer.

The lab also serves a huge role in teaching undergraduates. Many undergraduates who work in the lab learn extensively about the soil sampling process and what it takes to run a research building. This experience is then applied for careers in agriculture or when applying to graduate school.

Auburn's Research Units and Experiment Stations have continued to allow students to gain experience in their respected field through the relationships they have with industry groups around the state.

Over the years, the lab has had a continued partnership with Alabama Farmers Federation. In celebration of their 75th anniversaries, ALFA and the Alabama Farmers Federation made a $5 million gift to fund the construction of our current building on campus.

Each analysis form can be found at aaes.auburn.edu. These forms have extensive information on how to conduct your sample, how to fill out the correct information and where to send it to. Alabama Cooperative Extension System has many publications that can be accessed through this website on the analysis and testing services.

“Extension Services is our main outreach within the Alabama community, they provide our soil testing boxes to customers and teach people about proper soil sampling, forage sampling and provide guidance on fertilizer and lime recommendations,” Davis said. “In fact, we might not still be here without the dedicated Extension services in each county!”