Station Facts
The Upper Coastal Plain Research Station is the oldest of the state's 18 research stations, established on a trial basis in 1902 on 201 acres of rented land eight miles southeast of Rocky Mount, on the Old Tarboro Road (now Noble's Mill Pond Road). The option on the land was exercised in 1903 when the station officially became a state research facility. An adjacent tract of 240 acres was purchased in 1937, for a total of 441 acres. In 1990, Fountain Farm on Highway 97, just east of Rocky Mount about 10 miles north of the station, was turned over to the station. More than 200 acres of cultivated land are used for research.
On June 26, 2003, the station celebrated its centennial with a day-long celebration.
There are extensive facilities on the station for each area of research being conducted. Station facilities used to support crop research include crop drying and storage facilities, six tobacco curing barns, tobacco packhouse, fertilizer and pesticide storage buildings, maintenance shop, several storage sheds and buildings, carpenter's shop, two dwellings, and an office.
The public is always welcome to visit the station and tours are offered to groups making advanced arrangements. The peak growing periods from April to September are usually more informative. Field Days are arranged according to new research developments
The Program in Action
The research program at the Upper Coastal Plain Research Station is centered around agronomic crops such as corn, cotton, peanuts, soybeans and tobacco and swine. These crops and the swine industry are of great economic importance to eastern North Carolina. This station, with soils and climate representative of this region, is ideally suited for experimental work with these commodities. The location is close enough to NCSU for project leaders to closely monitor their research projects, apply treatments and collect data within a work day.
Peanuts
Peanut research programs include breeding and development of new varieties for higher yield, better quality and disease resistance; development of improved cultural practices; evaluation of plant growth regulators and crop rotations; and variety verification of certified seed. Nematode resistance and soil-borne disease resistant peanut genotypes are being identified and advanced breeding lines characterized. A comprehensive weed control program includes screening and evaluation of herbicides, rates of application, herbicide combinations, herbicide/insecticide interactions, and carryover effects.
Tobacco
A major tobacco research effort focuses on breeding and development for better yield and quality of new flue-cured and burley varieties for Black Shank resistance and resistance mechanisms. Other research efforts are in disease control, evaluation of fungicides and nematicides for pest control, and development of black shank and nematode management strategies, variety development, breeding line and variety yield, quality and disease evaluations, evaluation of cultural practices on quality and chemical composition, such as priming practices, and rotation studies. Nematode-resistant transgenic tobacco genotypes are being identified.
Cotton
Projects underway include genetically-engineered cotton, weed control, herbicide evaluations, development of conventional and no-till weed management systems, evaluation of potential cover crops, insect control and insecticide evaluations, biological and ecological studies of insects and development of insect management systems, pesticide interactions involving insecticides, herbicides, nematocides and other pesticide types and combinations of types, their effectiveness and their effects on cotton, plant growth regulators, defoliation trials, evaluation of genotype and environmental factors on production, nematode effects and damage threshold on resistant and susceptible varieties, yield trials of advanced breeding lines, commercial variety evaluations, high quality tests of experimental and commercial varieties, performance of glandless/glanded hybrids, no-till weed management, herbicide carry-over effects, and use of cover crops in weed control. Presently, research is being done with two different genetically- engineered cottons: one a Buctril (a herbicide)-resistant cotton and the other, a cotton that produces its own Bt-toxin which controls the major worm pests in the area.
Corn
Breeding studies on this agricultural staple concern quantitative inheritance, genotype evaluations for desirable traits, fertility studies including response to ammonium, carryover of nitrogen from previous crops, timing of applications, effects of liming agents on yield and soil properties, no-till and conventional weed control, evaluation of potential cover crops, development of herbicide recommendations based on soil type, evaluation of herbicide-insecticide interactions and herbicide-tolerant corn, and cultural practices.
Soybeans
Soybean work focuses on nematode effects and damage threshold of resistant and susceptible varieties, development of improved cultural practices, planting dates of the Groups, weed control, herbicide evaluations and development of conventional and no-till weed management systems, herbicide-adjuvant studies, development of herbicide recommendations based on soil type, herbicide-insecticide interactions, insecticide-nematicide interactions, variety testing, and evaluation of genotypic and environmental factors on production.
Weather reporting
The station hosts an ECONET tower weather reporting station that feeds onsite data to the State Climatology Office headquartered at the Raleigh campus of NC State University and to the National Weather Service offices in the region. Temperature, wind velocity and chill factor, dew point, barometric pressure, relative humidity, and other information vital to the farming community as well to area citizens are recorded and electronically transmitted to the SCO and the NWS. The SCO posts hourly data on their Website and the NWS uses the information as an important puzzle-piece in predicting weather and analyzing patterns.