Agriculture is, without question, the most important industry in the Mississippi Delta. Farmers and the allied agriculture industries that support farmers drive the local economy in the 19-county region of the state, more than any other business. Mississippi State University’s Delta Research and Extension Center (DREC) was established in 1904 as the Delta Branch Experiment Station to support local agriculture and MSU’s Land-Grant mission. The land-grant University system was established by Congress through the Morrill Act of 1862 to provide educational opportunities and support for rural communities through agricultural, horti-cultural, and mechanical arts education. This legislation created the funding to establish Mississippi State University, originally named the Agricultural and Mechanical College of the State of Mississippi. Two additional essential pieces of legislation, the Hatch Act of 1887 and the Smith-Lever Act of 1914, established the Agricultural Experiment Stations and Extension Services, respectively, in each state. The agricultural experiment station was developed to conduct research and generate important information to make farmers successful. Subsequently, a mechanism was needed to make the logjam of knowledge generated by the experiment station available to farmers, so the Extension Service was created. The Hatch Act and Smith-Lever Act formed the foundation for facilities like the Delta Research and Extension Center in each state across the United States.
In 1904, a small group of progressive landowners purchased a 200-acre “worn-out” cotton plantation just north of Leland, in the Washington County village of Stoneville, to establish a Branch Experiment Station. The purpose was to have MSU faculty in their backyards doing research on the same Delta soils where they farmed to solve problems that limited production.
Currently, the DREC has approximately 5,000 acres, 25 faculty members, and 160 total employees, but our mission remains the same as it was 120 years ago: to serve Delta farmers. The complex is also home to the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) Southeast Area Headquarters, the U.S. Forest Service Southern Hardwoods Laboratory, the Yazoo Mississippi Delta Joint Water Management District, Delta Health Alliance, and Delta Council. Together, we form a unique conglomeration affectionately known as “Stoneville,” of which the Delta Branch Experiment Station formed the foundation.
During the last 120 years, some of the most important innovations in agriculture have been developed and tested in Stoneville. The boll weevil was first detected in Mississippi cotton in 1907, and researchers at DREC immediately went to work on finding solutions to manage this destructive pest. The initial testing of mechanical cotton pickers was done at DREC in the late 1930s and early 1940s, leading to new innovations in fiber strength and defoliation. Other innovations included the first application of anhydrous ammonia from an implement pulled by a mule named Ike. Dr. Gordon Tupper’s development of the Stoneville parabolic subsoiler known worldwide, breeding soybeans for improved grain yield by Dr. Edgar Hartwig, breeding short-season cotton varieties by Dr. Bob Bridge, and development of the Early Soybean Production System by Dr. Larry Heatherly, to name a few. These innovations and others have had a tremendous positive influence on agriculture in Mississippi and throughout the world, and we continue that tradition today.
Currently, scientists at Stoneville study all aspects of agriculture as it pertains to crops grown in the Mississippi Delta. The DREC was founded on cotton research, but scientists today are leading experts in various aspects of corn, soybean, rice, and catfish production. The Stoneville complex is home to three joint MSU/USDA-ARS national centers: The Thad Cochran National Warmwater Aquaculture Center, The National Center for Alluvial Aquifer Research, and The Center for Pollinator Health in Southern Cropping Systems. While scientists at Stoneville are at the cutting edge of agricultural research, our foundation’s mission remains the same as it was 120 years ago: improving crop yields and reducing input costs to make local growers more profitable, while preserving the valuable natural resources of the Mississippi Delta.
Hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the world pass through the Stoneville research complex each year, extending the economic impact of DREC beyond just agriculture. Those visitors stay in local hotels and eat in local restaurants throughout the year. We invite our neighbors in the Delta to visit us anytime.
Jeff Gore is Professor and Head, Delta Reseach and Extension Center in Stoneville, Mississippi.