The Attapulgus Research and Education Center (AREC) is one of eight off-campus research centers in the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
Established in 1939 on 300 acres near the city of Attapulgus, Ga., the AREC is located in the extreme lower part of southwest Georgia just five miles from the Florida line.
Current research efforts focus on agronomic row crops and some orchard crops, including corn (field and sweet), cotton, peanuts, peaches, small grains, and soybeans.
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AREC falls into the USDA zone 8B with extreme lows of 15-20 degrees F and an annual precipitation of around 54 inches. AREC has a 232-day growing season. The average first frost is early to mid-November and the average last frost date is mid-March.
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The predominant soil types consist of Dothan loamy sands, and Nankin loamy fine sands with 2 to 5 percent slopes.
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Total acreage: 300
- 75 acres are cultivated (65 acres irrigated, 10 acres dryland)
Irrigation capabilities:
- 1 deep well
- 1 pond
- 2 center pivots, both with VRI capability. Area covered: 59 acres
- 1 linear system, with VRI capability. Area covered: 6 acres
Production systems:- Conventional/strip tillage - 59 acres
- Peach orchards - 16 acres
- 75 acres are cultivated (65 acres irrigated, 10 acres dryland)
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- Office w/12-seat conference room - 2,900 sq.ft.
- Maintenance shop - 1,200 sq.ft.
- Enclosed storage - 1,500 sq.ft.
- Pesticide storage - 3,250 sq.ft.
- Equipment sstorage - 14,000 sq.ft.
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- Tractors: JD 155HC, 100,60,40HP, KB 90 HP, MF 100 HP, NH 120 HP
- Tillage: 14 ft harrow (2), 12 ft field cultivator (6), 2-row strip till, switch plow
- Planters: 2-row Monosem, 4-row Monosem
- Sprayers: 3pt 36 ft, 3pt 24 ft, Spider self-propelled plot sprayer, orchard sprayer
- Harvest: Peanut inverter 2-row, peanut combine 2-row (3), JD 2-row cotton picker
- Tractors: JD 155HC, 100,60,40HP, KB 90 HP, MF 100 HP, NH 120 HP
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- Weather station - UGA Weather Network, RX 3000
- 2-row peanut combines with bagging attachment (3)
- JD cotton picker with bagging attachment
- Almaco plot combine with grain platform, corn head, and row crop head
- 2 tractors equipped with Trimble GFX-750 auto-pilot systems
- Weather station - UGA Weather Network, RX 3000
History
The Attapulgus Research and Extension Center was originally the Shade Tobacco Experiment Station, established in 1939 to help the region's many shade tobacco farmers at the time. It operated under the Coastal Plain Experiment Station in Tifton. In the 1950s, the Campbell Soup Company Research Farm in the nearby town of Climax was interested in growing okra and other horticultural crops and requested that such research be conducted on the station.
In 1974, with the shade tobacco industry gone from Georgia, the name was changed to the Extension-Research Center. The new center helped the former tobacco farmers learn to grow vegetable crops. In 1990, it was named the Attapulgus Research Farm. It later became the Research and Education Center it is today.