Commodity Crops
Agriculture
in West Tennessee is composed of various row-crop commodities.
Cotton, soybeans, corn, grain sorghum and wheat are the major
crops grown. The contribution of row-crop agriculture to the
West Tennessee economy is significant. Therefore, it is
appropriate for Ames Plantation, as a Research and Education
Center for the Tennessee Agricultural Experiment Station system
with the University of Tennessee, to evaluate various varieties
within the major row-crop commodities grown in the southwestern
corner of the state for area producers.
Ames Plantation maintains the grounds and administrative support
for the National Championship for field trialing bird dogs,
therefore, it must also manage the acreage for the best possible
habitat for quail. Interspersing grain crops throughout the
field trial grounds is vital to quail propagation and gives the
Plantation the opportunity to evaluate different varieties of
commodity crops. Row-crops are planted on other areas of the
Plantation where multiple objectives are achieved. The
Plantation plants approximately 850 acres of soybeans, 700 acres
of corn, 200 acres of cotton, 200 acres of wheat and 70 acres of
grain sorghum. All row-crop agriculture on Ames Plantation is
dry-land farming, due to the arrangement and nature of the
fields which makes irrigation impracticle . Income derived from
these commodities is used to fund research, pay labor and
maintain the infrastructure on the Plantation.
Scientists from UT and other research institutions implement an
array of research projects to evaluate major row-crop
commodities and their viability on Ames Plantation in southwest
Tennessee for the Mid-South. For additional information on field
crop variety evaluations go to
http://www.utextension.utk.edu/fieldCrops.