Fairhope, Alabama thefairhopetimes.blogspot.com
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| Highway 104. |
AUBURN UNIVERSITY'S RESEARCH FARM
Passers-by were surprised to see a large pecan tree orchard at Auburn University's research farm on Hwy 104 cut down this week. We reached out to the center to find out what is planned next there but received no reply. Pecan growing is one of their areas of research, according to online sources.
From their website:
With its location one mile east of Mobile Bay and 30 miles north of the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf Coast Research and Extension Center in Fairhope enjoys a climate that’s ideal for a highly diversified research program, and the GCREC takes full advantage of that. The long growing seasons and mostly mild winters allow for research on all of Alabama’s major row crops as well as on turfgrass, vegetable and fruit crops, pecans, beef cattle and forage. The GCREC’s top goal is to help southwest Alabama producers maximize their income.
HISTORY
The Gulf Coast Research and Extension Center (formerly known as the Gulf Coast Substation) began operating in 1930 at Fairhope, Ala. Research on seed potatoes obtained from the Midwest served as the primary focus for the substation researchers during the early years. Efforts to increase the phosphorus content of newly cleared acreage also received attention.
Research on other horticultural crops, agronomic field and forage crops and dairy and beef cattle was implemented later. A lagoon waste management and wastewater recycling system in connection with the dairy unit was added in the late 1970s.
The Gulf Coast Substation was one of the first five substations established in Alabama by the legislature to create research facilities in five main areas of the State: Tennessee Valley, Sand Mountain, Black Belt, Wiregrass and Gulf Coast. Three of the five went into operation in 1929: The Tennessee Valley Substation at Belle Mina, the Sand Mountain Substation at Crossville and the Wiregrass Substation at Headland. The remaining two, the Black Belt Substation at Marion Junction and the Gulf Coast Substation at Fairhope, began operating in 1930.
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