Research Stations - LCPRS - Brochure
Station Facts
The Lower Coastal Plain Tobacco Research Station and the Cunningham Research Station may be six miles apart, but they operate as one facility. The Lower Coastal station was originally established in 1948 on rented land in Pitt County. The station was moved to its present site in Lenoir County in 1965. This facility has 86 acres of cropland and 15 acres of infrastructure. The Cunningham station was established in 1987 as an agricultural research station for N.C. State University and named for Raymond Pollock Cunningham. The facility is used for teaching and research and extension activities to demonstrate modern agricultural practices. There are 252 acres of cropland, 90 percent of which can be irrigated. There are also 111 acres of woodland, 16 acres of ponds and 35 acres of infrastructure. In 2006 this station merged with Caswell Research Farm also located in Kinston.
Infrastructure
Lower Coastal Plain site consists of a residence, maintenance shop with implement shed and tobacco barns with a tobacco packhouse facility. Cunningham Research Station consists of a conference facility that houses the administrative staff and provides a regional conference facility for agricultural education and training meetings. There are also horticultural and tobacco greenhouses, burley tobacco drying facility, flue-cured bulk barns, equipment sheds, chemical and pesticide storage buildings, shop with implement sheds and storage facilities.
Events
Each year, the station hosts a Tobacco Field Day and a Sweet Potato Field Day, the N.C. Tobacco Tour and the Regional Flue-cured Variety Tour.
Research Programs
Tobacco
Past research programs concentrated extensively in tobacco, official variety trials of tobacco, black shank prevention, tobacco diseases and pests. In our present tobacco program, small plot experiments now encompass Flue Cured, Burley, Cigar Wrapper and Dark Air-Cured production, harvesting techniques, drying, and marketing. Researchers are also doing research on Target spot, official variety trials, yield and quality of advanced breeding lines, hybrids, sucker control, weed control, pest management and effects of nitrogen rates on aromatic tobacco lines.
Horticultural Crops
Additionally, our horticultural crops division includes a wide variety of crops. A large amount of research is conducted on sweet potato, watermelon, specialty melons, cantaloupe, blackberry, raspberry, squash, cucumbers, broccoli, and lettuce research. Projects include soil science, crop science, plant pathology, entomology and botany. Tests are performed to evaluate pest control, chemical efficacy, fertilization rates, yield & breeding trials, insect resistance, wire-worm studies, weed control, and fungicide usage for disease control.
Soil/Crop Science
Investigations on interactions of soil moisture and rotary hoe cultivation were conducted to benefit organic and conventional corn growers. This research required large plot sizes and was made possible by the availability of linear irrigation to simulate recent rainfall. The Lower Coastal Plain station has 60 shallow wells to quantify how variable rate nitrogen applications affect nitrate levels in groundwater. Other soil science studies involve fertilization and management of no-till varieties, germplasm development, & groundwater monitoring for Nitrogen. Lower Coastal Plains Tobacco Research Station along with Cunningham Research Station has an extensive small grains program which includes studies of fertilization practices, reduced tillage practices, disease and insect resistance, and yield / quality of advanced breeding lines. Official Variety Trials for corn, wheat and soybeans are also conducted on the station.
Community Partnership
The primary purpose of this research station is to provide resources in the form of land, equipment, personnel, expertise, labor, facilities and irrigation to research scientist conducting field research studies on agricultural crops.
The station currently provides support for scientists conducting research studies on both field and horticultural crops. Because of its location in the vast agricultural community of Eastern North Carolina and its proximity to the developing Global TransPark, this research facility is extremely important to Agricultural Research Service scientists and the private farming sector. This is especially true as Eastern North Carolina agriculture moves toward more significant diversification into horticultural crops.
This station has contributed to many of today’s successful agricultural production practices, and it will be a vital link in providing information to growers as they further diversity their crop production and produce commodities for sale in emerging produce markets.
Mission
To manage crop and livestock facilities that serve as a platform for agriculture research to make farming more efficient, productive, and profitable, while maintaining a sound environment and providing consumers with safe and affordable products.
Partnership
Agriculture research in North Carolina dates back to 1877, when state legislation established the N.C. Department of Agriculture along with “Experiment Stations” as a division of the department. Since that time, the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ Research Stations Division, in partnership with N.C. State University, has established 18 statewide locations. Each facility has unique climate and soil conditions, giving researchers a living laboratory in which to investigate a variety of regional crops, forestry concerns, livestock, poultry, and aquaculture. The Division supports these studies by providing land, water, equipment, buildings, and staff who work around the clock to help build a stronger foundation for the future of agriculture.
NCDA&CS Research Stations Division, Teresa Lambert, Director
Mailing Address: 1001 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1001
Physical Address:2 W. Edenton Street, Raleigh, NC 27601
Phone: (919) 707-3236 FAX: (919) 733-1754