At a Glance: The Delta Conservation Demonstration Center
- • A non-profit demonstration farm funded by the sale of crops, grants,
donations and various levels of support from 27 groups, agencies and companies
- • Farm size: 700 acres with 636 acres in row crop production
- • An indoor, air conditioned headquarters with offices and a fully-equipped meeting room, which can accommodate up to 50 people at table seating
- • On-site catering is easily scheduled.
- • Covered trailers are available for farm tours.
- • The covered shop, heated in winter and well ventilated in summer, is compete with restroom facilities and can accommodate up to 100 people and serves as a training site for implement demonstrations such as sprayer calibration clinics.
Tours of the farm are free and encouraged to farmers from throughout the Mid-South,
United States and the world. Groups wishing to rent the facilities for ongoing
training or to set up group tours should contact Boone at (662) 332-0400, (662)
822-1823 or by e-mail at hboone@dcdcfarm.org.
The DCDC is a few miles east of the Greenville, Miss., Airport on Feather
Farm Road. All roads near the farm have directional signs to the farm. The
mailing address is P.O. Box 411 Metcalfe, MS 38760. The physical address in
422 Feather Farms Road, Metcalfe, Miss.
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When John Oglesby of Washington County, Miss., first tried conservation tillage on 200 acres of his soybeans in 1978, he found few places to turn for information. After more than two decades of pioneering conservation tillage practices in the region, Oglesby put his name and reputation behind a big idea – to establish a premier conservation demonstration farm to serve Mid-South Delta farmers.
Oglesby wasn’t alone. A joint effort of the soil and water conservation
district, farmers, private company representatives and others saw no better
way to lead hesitant Delta farmers into the age of conservation than to show
it to them.
The result is the thriving and productive Delta Conservation Demonstration
Center (DCDC), a 700-acre row crop farm near Metcalfe, Miss., which demonstrates
familiar and cutting-edge conservation practices under field conditions using
only the chemicals, implements and research available to any farmer.
DCDC, operated by a non-profit board of farmers and agribusiness representatives,
spent hundreds of hours on land improvements, upgrading irrigation systems,
planting buffer strips, and installing overflow risers. The result is a matrix
of plots that can compare irrigated vs. dryland, tilled vs. no-till, and
various crop rotations.
In 2005 – the farm’s fourth crop year – the DCDC grew
some 30 demonstration fields of common Delta row crops. More than 600 of
the farm’s 700 acres were in row crop production. The remaining acreage
is a wildlife habitat educational area and another plot is a developing antique
farm implement collection, which will show visitors, many of them school
children, the progression of farm efficiency through the years.
On any given day, farmers ride the turnrows, retrieving printed field information
from mailboxes at each field and using the demonstrations as a first-hand
method of deciding which conservation methods might be adaptable for their
farms. To accommodate groups of up to 50 participants, DCDC recently completed
a 3,300-square foot office and meeting facility.
Growers can access DCDC’s information from well beyond the turnrow.
Field-by-field analyses of conservation practices are available via the DCDC’s
Web site at www.dcdcfarm.org.
A Wealth of Knowledge
Hiram Boone, the farm’s full-time director, and Chip Weathers, the
full-time farm manager, are supported in their efforts by board members such
as Oglesby and other farmers, agronomists, researchers and private company
representatives with an interest and dedication to conservation. Heading
up the board is Chairman Sam Newsom of Greenville. Newsom is a farmer and
a chemical sales representative. He sees the benefits of conservation from
every positive angle.
“Our primary goal is now a reality. We are a regionally-recognized
demonstration farm trusted by farmers, environmentalists, private companies
and the educational and governmental agencies that support us with grants
and advice,” said Newsom.
“We are confident our progress during out first five years will propel us
beyond our regional expectations and into the national spotlight as one of
the most unique, efficiently-run and farmer-friendly conservation farms in
the nation.”
The big emphasis is currently on demonstrating the economics behind conservation,
notes Oglesby – a deep look into real-world concerns.
“Our demonstrations show what the cost of not working fields versus
working fields are,” said Oglesby. “The DCDC is providing facts
farmers can understand and apply to our own operations. That is where we
stand out in what we have to offer conservation efforts in the Delta.
“The different fields we have with expenses broken down by chemicals
and production practices and by then providing the results make it easier
for people to decide what fits their farming operation,” he added.
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Delta farmer John Oglesby helped create the DCDC to fill a void in information about conservation tillage in the Mid-South.
Photo courtesy Eva Ann Dorris, DCDC |
The Obvious Changes
Boone shares with an obvious enthusiasm the improvements made during the
first five years of a 10-year plan for DCDC.
“We have an increase in the organic matter due to no-till and the
use of the crop residue. We’ve seen a reduction in the crop irrigation
needed because a heavy crop residue helps hold in the moisture. Our grassy
turnrows are established and our vegetative waterways are working to prevent
sediment runoff.”
Boone said the installation and use of side inlet irrigation allows for
efficient use of water conservation and management.
“Through the Agricultural Research Service, we monitor the water runoff
and are proving our sediment runoff is below tolerance levels,” he
said.
Leading the Way
The primary goal of the DCDC is to pay attention to conservation methods
and practices of interest to Delta farmers in the five Mid-South states and
to demonstrate those practices on the farm. The demonstration of high interest
to Delta farmers in 2005 was the planting of twin-row soybeans and twin-row
corn.
“I think the twin-row soybeans offer a bright future, but we are not
far enough long with twin-row corn. The strength of the stalk was a problem
for us, and we had some corn to fall,” said Boone.
“The twin row soybeans, however, showed promise as an alternative
production practice in the Delta. We saw an increase in production and a
quicker canopy cover, which reduced the herbicides needed,” Boone noted. “A
quicker canopy holds moisture underneath the plant and saves on irrigation.
It’s a natural fit with Delta farming. That’s what we are looking
for — methods that conserve soil and water, improve yields and increase
economic efficiency.
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Planting soybeans in twin rows speeds canopy development and improves yield, according to DCDC research.
Photo courtesy Eva Ann Dorris, DCDC |
“We are also planting soybeans into rice stubble and not irrigating
the soybeans to see if we can skip a year of irrigation. We don’t know
if that is going to work or not but we are trying to find an answer there,
which will reduce the need for water and reduce the drain on the aquifer.
Less irrigation saves energy and overall production costs,” said Boone.
Other demonstrations are various crop rotations into last year’s stubble,
irrigated versus non-irrigated demonstrations, variations in seed depth and
population and other possible productions practices that could give Delta
farmers the edge they need to save input costs while producing more yield.
The DCDC accomplished a great deal in its first five years, but more is
planned. Under construction is a chemical mixing facility; bookings for individual,
group tours and trainings are increasing; work continues on the wildlife
habitat area to allow for trails and information on how wildlife and production
agriculture can flourish; and the antique farm implement display is quickly
becoming a reality.
The DCDC also runs it farm equipment on bio-diesel, which Boone is convinced
prolongs the life of the center’s engines.
As harvest ended at the DCDC for 2005, following some minor impacts of two
major Gulf hurricanes, Boone was optimistic the fourth year of production
will have proven to have been a good one.
“However, we are like any other farm,” he notes. “We face
higher fuel prices, higher fertilizer crops and the impact of these unexpected
expenses will impact our bottom line.”
You can bet Boone and Weathers will be taking careful note of those expenses – and
that farmers throughout the Mid-South can learn from it.
For more information
The Delta Conservation Demonstration Center’s web site, www.dcdcfarm.org, is updated regularly and contains answers to questions about the DCDC |
