Last week I shared information in this column about the importance of agriculture to Robeson County and examples of some of the research and demonstration work that is being done by the Extension staff to support this industry. For any business, including agriculture, to be successful, it must keep up with the trends in the industry and be able to adapt to new technology as it becomes available.

Although most of the research and demonstration work that is being done in the county by Extension follows the same format as has been done for years, there is one notable exception that is worthy of mention in this column. The reason is that the person involved in this research is not a farmer and and is not devoting a vast amount of money and resources to make her farm operation more profitable. Rather, she has involved herself in agricultural research in order to maintain the heritage of the small family farm on which she was raised and because of her concern for the environment and natural resources and her eagerness to allow her family farm to be used to help the farmers in this county develop alternative crops and alternative sources of income.

Mrs. Phyllis Pate came to my office two years ago after attending a national conference in which she was able to tour a sustainable agriculture research farm. This farm had been donated by an individual and was being operated by the department of agriculture, Cooperative Extension, the Soil and Water Conservation District, several other government agencies, and a host of volunteers in another state. Because of what she saw, she had developed a vision and a goal of converting her family farm to such an operation for the benefit of those in her home county.

Mrs. Pate's family farm is located in the East Howellsville community. Although her mother still lives in the home on the farm, there is no one in the family who is able to carry on the daily farm operation. Until now, the farm was being rented to a farmer in the community for traditional crop production such as corn, soybeans, and wheat.

This farm is now known as the Hubert Kinlaw Farm, named for Mrs. Pate's father. It has been established as a demonstration, education, and research farm and focuses on trees, fruits, vegetables, and nuts. The accompanying photo shows Mrs. Pate, along with Milton Parker, Extension Commercial Horticultural Agent, and Charlie Lowery, Extension Urban Horticultural Agent and coordinator of the Master Gardener Program, standing beside the attractive sign that welcomes visitors to the farm. This farm is also recognized by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture as a Century Farm, having been in continuous ownership be the same family for more than 100 years.

After cutting the timber from the farm, Mrs. Pate sought assistance from Cooperative Extension, Natural Resource Conservation Service, the Forestry Service, and the North Carolina Department of Agriculture to help her develop a plan for utilizing the farm as a research and demonstration farm. With a lot of help from Milton Parker and Charlie Lowery, she was able to develop a plan she felt best used the resources of the farm. She then began to invest the money she received from the sale of the timber into making the changes and improvements in her plan.

With assistance from a lot of volunteers, including the students in the Vocational Agriculture program at Lumberton Senior High School, the farm began to take shape. Long-term demonstration sites were developed with plantings of pecan trees, peach trees, paw paw trees, figs, blackberries, and raspberries. Each of these demonstration plots include several different varieties of the different species, so evaluations can be done to determine which are most practical for this area. Within these plots, additional research is being done on fertilization rates and time of application of the fertilizer, disease monitoring, and weed management with mulch rather than with chemicals.

Research has already started on evaluating various annual crops such as watermelons, cantaloupes, sweet potatoes, and other vegetables. These evaluations include variety trials, disease and weed management trials, and production efficiency.

The timberland that was harvested has been replanted with a variety of species of trees and with different planting strategies. The goal here is to determine the most suitable species and the best planting strategies for local landowners to use when they reforest timberlands on their own farms.

The information gained from this research farm will be extremely valuable to landowners, farmers, consumers, and the general public in Robeson County.

Some of the labor and materials for research is often provided by agencies and private business, but there is still a lot of expenses for other labor, materials, and the general upkeep and development of the research farm. Realizing this Mrs. Pate began to seek sources of grant funds to assist her in reaching her goal for this farm.

Again, with help from Parker and Lowery, Mrs. Pate applied for a grant from SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education). She was successful in her efforts and was just recently notified that she would receive a small amount of funding for the next three years to implement additional research on this farm.

I would like to commend Mrs. Pate for her efforts and her determination to make this research farm a reality. More specifically, I would like to commend her for her concern for the financial well-being of our local producers and her eagerness to do something to address the problem of agricultural diversity and agricultural sustainability in Robeson County.

If you would like to visit this farm and see some of the things that are being done, please contact my office. We will make arrangements for a tour and will explain in greater detail some of the things that are being done on this farm.

E-mail address: Everett_Davis@ncsu.edu

Mailing Address:
P. O. Box 2280
Lumberton, NC 28359-2280

Phone: 910-671-3276
Fax: 910-671-6278

Date Created 6/12/03