Research

Specialty Vegetables New Focus of SPAREC

A researcher at the Southern Piedmont AREC harvests crabgrass in a study to determine whether naturalized warm-season grasses can help with summer forage production. Although often dismissed as a weed by producers, crabgrass could help with grazing when cool-season grasses have limited production.

The Southern Piedmont Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Blackstone, Va., has a team of faculty and staff members who are dedicated to research and Extension programs for the sustainable production of tobacco, small fruits, forages, and specialty crops.

“The overall focus of our programs here are to provide viable, productive, and economical solutions for agricultural producers in Southside Virginia and the rest of the state,” said Carol Wilkinson, associate professor of crop and soil environmental sciences and director of the Southern Piedmont AREC.

One new research project at the center involves growing specialty vegetables in Southside Virginia. A commercial vegetable buyer based in the southeastern United States, who also contracts production in Mexico, contacted the research center about the possibility of growing jalapeños, habaneros, and tomatillos on land that has been traditionally used for tobacco production.

“We are studying the feasibility and economics of growing these crops in our area when a market advantage exists during the Mexican off-season,” Wilkinson said. “Results from the first year of study showed that these crops are well suited to this environment and produced excellent quality, but we are still trying to address the grower adoption of these crops given the production system it requires. We are currently evaluating modified vegetable production systems that will allow tobacco growers to utilize the same equipment used for tobacco production.”

Another research project involves using naturalized grasses to deal with the “summer slump,” a nickname for several months during the summer when cool-season grasses are not productive. “Our preliminary findings indicate that these naturalized grasses, which are often considered weeds, could provide high quality summer grazing for ruminant livestock in Southside Virginia,” Wilkinson said.

A third major research project involves extending the strawberry season using field-scale high-tunnel structures, which have an arched metal framework like a greenhouse and are covered with plastic sheeting.

“Our aim is to develop a production system that will compliment our conventional system by bringing fruit to market earlier in the spring and also extending to the fall and early winter when local fruit will be at a premium,” Wilkinson said.

A study on the drought tolerance of tobacco production uses this same technology. With more than 300,000 acres of tobacco grown each year in the commonwealth, the cash crop is a primary area of study at the Southern Piedmont AREC.