General Information

Research Projects

Regional Challenges

Many of the economic and environmental problems associated with row crop production on the southeastern Coastal Plain can be attributed to the low organic matter and sandy nature of the region's soils. Soil quality is further diminished by the intensive tillage practices used by a majority of the area's farmers.

The rise in tourism centered on the Coastal Plain's water bodies and the continued increase of urban sprawl into rural areas have resulted in the demand for more environmentally sustainable farming practices. Thus, alternative production practices are needed that will improve both crop productivity and environmental conservation.

Conservation Tillage

Conservation tillage (leaving plant residues on the soil surface) has been proposed as a means to improve soil quality, increase crop productivity, reduce wind and soil erosion, and decrease water runoff from agricultural fields. The benefits from conservation tillage could be enhanced if other environmentally friendly production practices were integrated into conservation-tillage systems. Practices that could potentially be a part of these systems on the Coastal Plain include bioengineered pest- and herbicide-tolerant varieties, precision-farming practices and technologies, cover crops, narrow row widths, and broad-cast deep tillage.

In 1998, scientists from Clemson University and the USDA-ARS initiated a broad-based agroecology program focused on developing integrated cropping systems and determining their impacts on the agroecosystem. Both basic and applied research studies are being conducted to expand our understanding of the interaction of plant, soil, pest, and climatic factors that affect crop productivity and ecological sustainability.

Crops being emphasized are corn, wheat, soybean, and cotton. Soil fertility levels; beneficial and pest insect populations; soil compaction; weed and nematode populations; water, nutrient, sediment, and pesticide runoff and leaching; yield and quality; grower profitability; soil organic matter levels; and soil microorganism populations are being examined in relation to these new cropping practices.

• Improvements in water quality with innovative cropping practices.

• Tillage systems for soybean grown with narrow row widths.

• Residue and site-specific management for optimum cotton lint yield and quality.

• Site-specific management of no-till soybean.

• Effects of tillage systems on fire ants.

• Timing of deep tillage for no-till winter wheat production.

• No-till system effects on soil nutrient, physical, and microbial properties.

• New weed-control systems for narrow row corn.

• Integrating molecular identification and precision farming technologies for nematode control in cotton and soybean.

• Variety development for no-till, narrow row soybean.

For further information, please contact: Dr. Jim Frederick 843-669-1912 ext. 228 email