The Clemson University Pee Dee Research and Education Center near Florence, SC, was host to a Field and Turf Day earlier this week, and Dr. Bruce Fortnum, Director of the Pee Dee Research & Education Center says that this particular field day was a very special one:
“This was a very special field day for us because this is the centennial of our station. The Pee Dee Research and Education Center was established in 1911. So, we’ve had a century of service, really, to the citizens of South Carolina. This Experiment station, when it was established in 1911, was really established for economic development, to bring new industries into South Carolina, to enhance the economic development of the citizens of the Pee Dee region of our state.
You know, the first direction o four station was from Rocky Mount, North Carolina, and he was brought down to teach local farmers how to produce tobacco, and that was a high technology crop in 1911. And it really brought a century of prosperity to South Carolina, and the eastern portion of the state. And the tobacco crop has diminished, but our role in bringing economic development into the region is still as valid today as it was in 1911, and that was really the theme of our field day this year.”
Fortnum says that while many crops are grown at the research station, turf grass is one with a high economic impact:
“You know the golf turf industry is really important along the coast of South Carolina, there are over 100 golf courses, and that’s really an economic driver in the Myrtle Beach area of South Carolina, and also scattered across the state of South Carolina. So, it’s very important to us, and so we have a turf grass center here at the Station, we have a number of faculty who are devoted specifically to that, to really addressing the conditions and problems that are really unique to the coast of South Carolina. And there are many disease and agronomic problems that are unique to this part of the world.”
And another focus of the research station, in addition to traditional row crops, is biofuels:
“Well, we have traditional crops that we work on like corn, cotton, soybeans. But, one area that we’ve really extended into is biofuels. We have a number of cooperative projects with scientists at the main university campus, but also we're working with a scientist at USC, University of South Carolina, who’s a sorghum breeder, and he has extensive plots here on the station, also. And we also have industry relations where we have miscanthus planted here on the station, hybrid plants, hybrid trees that are being planted through Arbigen. So, we not only have Clemson scientists, but also other people who are working in the industry looking at potential biofuel crops for the future. and we’re hoping some of these crops may provide in a way, the new tobacco for this portion of the state.”
Fortnum closed with these thoughts:
“Well, you know, we’re very pleased that we have the support of the citizens of the state of South Carolina, to do this research. We think it has a large, economic impact for the future, and we look forward to another century of working for the citizens of the state.”
Dr. Bruce Fortnum, Director of the Pee Dee Research & Education Center
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