For three generations, Pryce Family Farms outside Dothan has grown peanuts on the same stretch of red clay soil, selling almost exclusively through wholesale contracts to processors. This fall, a portion of that acreage will host something entirely different: a corn maze, a pumpkin patch, and a weekend festival aimed at families looking for an afternoon outing rather than a bag of raw peanuts.
"My granddad would probably think I'd lost my mind letting strangers wander around a cornfield for fun," said Walton Pryce, who now manages the farm's day-to-day operations. "But the wholesale side of this business has gotten tighter every year, and we needed something else to lean on."
Diversifying Beyond the Wholesale Market
Pryce said the decision to add an agritourism component came after several years of watching commodity prices fluctuate in ways that made long-term planning difficult. While the farm still sells the bulk of its peanut crop through traditional wholesale channels, Pryce said carving out a portion of the property for direct-to-consumer activities offered a way to capture revenue that isn't as exposed to the same market swings.
"When commodity prices dip, there's not much a farmer can do about it directly," Pryce said. "But if families are willing to pay for a fall afternoon on the farm, that's revenue that doesn't depend on what a processor is willing to pay per pound that year."
The new venture includes a small farm store selling boiled peanuts, local honey, and preserves made by Pryce's wife, along with hayrides through sections of the property not used for the maze. Pryce said the family spent the better part of a year researching similar operations at other farms before committing to the investment.
Learning an Unfamiliar Side of the Business
Running a seasonal attraction has required Pryce to develop skills far removed from the agronomy and equipment maintenance that dominated his work for most of his career, including marketing, event staffing, and liability considerations he hadn't previously needed to think much about.
"I know how to grow a peanut crop about as well as anybody around here," Pryce said. "I did not know anything about ticket pricing for a corn maze until about a year ago."
The family has hired several seasonal staff members, mostly high school and college students from the area, to help manage the festival weekends, along with a part-time marketing consultant to handle social media promotion, an area Pryce readily admits falls outside his own expertise.
A Cautious Bet on the Farm's Future
Pryce said the agritourism venture is being treated as a multi-year experiment rather than an immediate replacement for the farm's core wholesale business. He's watching closely to see whether attendance and revenue justify further investment, such as adding permanent structures for future seasons instead of the temporary setup used this year.
"We're not betting the whole farm on this," Pryce said. "But if it works the way I think it can, it gives us a cushion that just growing peanuts alone hasn't given us in a while."
For Pryce, the venture also carries a personal dimension tied to keeping the farm in the family for another generation. His own children have shown interest in the agritourism side of the business in a way they never showed toward the wholesale operation, something he sees as its own kind of value.
"If this is what gets the next generation excited about staying on this land," Pryce said, "then it's already worth it, no matter what the ticket sales look like."
