Judd Hill Foundation hosts university research
Contact Information:Dr. Fred Bourland, Northeast Research and Extension Center, Keiser
870-526-2199, bourland@uark.edu
By Howell Medders, 479-575-5647, hmedders@uark.edu
VARIETY TESTING — The Judd Hill Foundation farm in Poinsett County is a new site for the annual Cotton Variety Test, similar to this one at Northeast Research and Extension Center, conducted by the University of Arkansas System’s statewide Division of Agriculture.
KEISER, Ark. — The annual Judd Hill Cotton Technology Field Day Sept. 1 near Trumann in Poinsett County featured new research projects recently established in a cooperative agreement with the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture and Arkansas State University.
The research is an extension of projects conducted at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro and the Northeast Research and Extension Center at Keiser, NEREC director Dr. Fred Bourland said.
“This allows us to expand our research on soils that have very high yield potential for cotton,” Bourland said.
Ester Hill Chapin, who received the 4,000-acre Judd Hill Plantation as a wedding gift from her father, Judd Hill, created the foundation in 1985. When she died in 1991, Ester Chapin bequeathed the entire plantation to the foundation. The farm annually produces 3,800 acres of cotton to help fund a variety of philanthropic programs.
The new cooperative research projects managed by foreman Larry Fowler currently occupy 35 acres, with the option to expand to another 80 acres as needed.
Bourland, a cotton breeder and geneticist, made Judd Hill one of six locations for the Arkansas Cotton Variety Test. The test provides an objective, annual evaluation of commercial cotton hybrids in different environments. He also tests experimental strains of cotton from his breeding program.
Dr. Tina Teague, an entomologist based at ASU, has test plots at Judd Hill for research on irrigation termination and management of plant bugs in cotton.
Dr. Morteza Mozaffari, director of the Division of Agriculture’s Soil Testing Laboratory at Marianna, is mapping fields for variation in soil nutrients and other traits for future research on precision management practices.
Dr. Derrick Oosterhuis is testing plant growth regulators, and Dr. Craig Rothrock conducts research on seedling diseases of cotton.
Dr. Bill Robertson and Frank Groves are testing experimental transgenic cotton lines.
The foundation also cooperates with private companies for testing and demonstrating new technology.
Dr. Bill Baker at ASU is working with In-Time, a precision farming company based at Cleveland, Miss., to study the potential benefits of multispectral aerial imagery of plant biomass as a basis for variable rate application of agricultural chemicals within a field.