Projects at Cowpen Branch Facility

The Cowpen Branch Facility is our "traditional" agricultural commodity demonstration and research farm. This facility has specialized in potato and cabbage work for many years but we also do work on peppers, squash, pumpkins, collards, turnips, green beans, sweet corn, tomatoes, field corn and sorghums. Several faculty members from several UF/IFAS departments conduct projects here.

Facility Restructuring

We are currently in the engineering phase of a major physical restructuring of our facility. This restructuring will divided the farm into approximately 30 individual cells of approximately one acre each. These cells will be isolated from each other hydrologically. This will allow us to collect and quantify both surface and subsurface runoff from each cell. This in turn will allow us to better understand how water, nutrients and pesticides interact in our flatwoods soils and how to continue to produce food for the nation while protecting the environment.

Vegetable Projects

Current vegetable projects at the Cowpen Branch Facility include a BMP/NOI Grower Education Program, Controlled Release Fertilizer Projects on a wide variety of vegetables, Chloropicrin/Telone Research Projects on Potato, Drip Irrigation Project on Potato, IFAS Nitrogen Rate Demonstration projects on grower farms, Potato Variety Evaluations for Fresh Market and Chip Production, Hydroponic Potato Production, Insect Control on Potatoes and Cabbage, Weed Control on Potato and Cabbage, Calabassa Production and Marketing, Energy Crop Production and Evaluation for Biomass, Cut Flower Production and Marketing, Datil Pepper Variety Evaluation and Development, Pumpkin Variety Evaluation and Development.

For more information, contact Dr. Chad Hutchinson, UF/IFAS Horticultural Sciences Department; Dr. Susan Webb, UF/IFAS Entomology and Nematology Department; Dr. Bill Stall, UF/IFAS Horticultural Sciences Department; or Mr. David Dinkins, UF/IFAS St. Johns County Extension.

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