Sixth-generation North Carolina farmer Brandon Batten ’08, ’10 MS has strong words about an unlikely target — Old MacDonald. The character paints a lasting but inaccurate portrait of what farmers actually do, Batten argues. “He’s done us more disservice to agriculture than any other force.” 

In reality, from Triple B Farms, his Johnston County, N.C., family farm, 50 miles south of Raleigh, Batten applies engineering and technical tools to raise beef cattle, flue-cured tobacco, soybeans, wheat and other crops. He logs field activities in real time, complete with GPS tagging and photos, through a cloud-based recordkeeping system. He uses automated controls to fine-tune the environment inside tobacco curing barns. He relies on auto-steer tractors to tend to the fields.

And in 2017, he launched Flying Farmer LLC, an agricultural drone service, after receiving an NC Ag-Ventures grant, and began using drones to scout for disease, pests, drought stress or fertilizer overlaps. 

“There’s only so many hours in the day and there’s only one of me,” he says of his embrace of technology, “so I had to leverage whatever I could to get it all done.” 

Batten, 40, traces his forward-looking approach to his grandfather, Charlie P. Batten, who worked in quality control before farming and constantly pushed for new methods. The younger Batten’s degrees in biological and agricultural engineering blend mechanical engineering and agronomy, a combination he relies on today. A winner of state and national farming awards for his innovative approaches, Batten continues to work with NC State and Cooperative Extension on research projects and field trials. 

Beyond running Triple B Farms with his father and uncle, Batten also aims to put a new face on farming. In 2017, he started the Farm Facts Friday Facebook page, where weekly posts can reach up to 1 million people. There, he tells the story of modern agriculture — equipment failures, drought conditions and farm life with his three young children and wife, Jessica Batten ’10.

“There’s nothing more challenging than operating a farm and being profitable in 2026.”

In May, at his children’s elementary school’s Drone Day, he demonstrated how farmers use the technology, showing kids that farming can be a high-tech career. “We need the best and brightest in agriculture,” he says. “There’s nothing more challenging than operating a farm and being profitable in 2026.”

Tell Us What You Think

Do you have a personal connection to this story? Did it spark a memory? Want to share your thoughts? Send us a letter, and we may include it in an upcoming issue of NC State magazine.