Southern Piedmont Agricultural Research and Extension Center
ID
AREC-70NP (AREC-301NP)
SOUTHERN PIEDMONT
Agricultural Research and Extension Center
The Southern Piedmont AREC is committed to conducting research and delivering Extension education to support the Southern Piedmont region’s integrated and diverse production systems. The Southern Piedmont AREC is the only research and Extension center offering support to tobacco producers in Virginia by providing research-based management guidance for sustainable tobacco production. We have now enhanced our ability to address the needs of our regional stakeholders in various production systems by adding several new specialists and programs, recent investments in the latest technology and equipment, and access to various production habitats. Our signature programs have generated ample training opportunities, and we have invested heavily in educating and preparing the next generation of specialists, educators, and professionals to ensure the continuity of our impacts.
Our programs continue to develop and deliver timely, collaborative, and interdisciplinary research to facilitate the incorporation of the latest scientific findings and technological advances into the Southside production systems, focusing on improved production health and efficiency and reduced input costs in tobacco, specialty crops, small grains, corn, forage, and livestock. In doing so, we directly address our stakeholder-prioritized initiative of “resilient, profitable, and sustainable agriculture.”
“Our Southern Piedmont AREC is in the Piedmont region of Virginia, which offers a unique opportunity for my program to work with stakeholders and conduct both field and laboratory research to address real-world plant pathology problems in diverse agricultural crops. As a relatively new faculty in our AREC and the college of Agricultural sciences, I have been enjoying the supportive and collaborative environments in our AREC, the college, and Virginia Cooperative Extension, which motivate us to conduct more meaningful research and extension activities in the future.”
YUAN ZENG
PLANT PATHOLOGIST
“This AREC has been vital to my farming career. Their research in tobacco has been key to my success and helped me keep up with changes in the industry. With the information the staff provides, I can fix or prevent a problem that could cause me financial loss. I also depend on their research in small grains and beef cattle. When I make decisions for the upcoming year, I use the information provided to me by the AREC to direct my purchases.”
RICHARD HITE
LUNENBURG COUNTY PRODUCER
SOUTHERN PIEDMONT AREC AT A GLANCE
DISCIPLINES
- Tobacco agronomy
- Tobacco curing technology and efficiency
- Tobacco disease management
- Forage production and management
- Specialty crop production
INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES
- Tobacco curing, monitoring, and automation
- Spore trapping and predictive model development
- Drones imaging: crop development and pest detection
- Silvopasture
FACILITIES
- 1,180-acre farm with 130 acres of crop research plots, (including 16 acres of certified organic), 120 acres of fenced grazing land, 40 acres of silvopasture, and > 850 acres of woodland
- Specialized tobacco curing facilities
- Extensive greenhouse facilities and high tunnels
- Several fully equipped laboratories
INDUSTRY PARTNERS
- Tobacco industry and growers
- Agrichemical industry
- Forage and livestock industry
- Virginia Farm Bureau, SWCD, NRCS, VDACS
ABOUT THE SOUTHERN PIEDMONT AREC
The Southern Piedmont AREC near Blackstone, Virginia was established in 1974 and conducts strong commodity-oriented research and Extension programs to provide information and technology to the agricultural industry. Programs enhance the economic viability and environmental stewardship of tobacco, forage crops, beef cattle, small fruit, and other field and specialty crops.
A COLLABORATIVE NETWORK
The ARECs are a network of 11 centers strategically located throughout the state that emphasize close working relationships between Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station, Virginia Cooperative Extension, and the industries they work with. The mission of the system is to engage in innovative, leading-edge research to discover new scientific knowledge and create and disseminate science-based applications that ensure the wise use of agricultural, natural, and community resources while enhancing quality of life.
PARTNER WITH US
2375 Darvills Road
Blackstone, VA 23824
(434) 292-5331
www.arec.vaes.vt.edu/arec/southern-piedmont
VTSPAREC
VIRGINIATECHSPAREC
Virginia Cooperative Extension materials are available for public use, reprint, or citation without further permission, provided the use includes credit to the author and to Virginia Cooperative Extension, Virginia Tech, and Virginia State University.
Virginia Cooperative Extension is a partnership of Virginia Tech, Virginia State University, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and local governments. Its programs and employment are open to all, regardless of age, color, disability, sex (including pregnancy), gender, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, military status, or any other basis protected by law
Publication Date
January 1, 2024
