CELEBRATING A CENTURY OF PROGRESS!

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The Piedmont Research Station is located in Rowan County, nine miles west of Salisbury. Originally established as the Piedmont Test Farm in 1904 near Statesville, the station was moved in 1954 to its present site on 1,044 acres. In 2004 the station celebrated “A Century of Progress” by hosting an event to recognize the achievements of the station’s first 100 years. Research at the station is divided into four research units: dairy, poultry, field crops and horticultural crops. In addition to both crop and livestock research, the station hosts an ECONET weather reporting station that feeds onsite data to the State Climatology Office headquartered at the Raleigh campus of North Carolina.State University and to the National Weather Service offices in the region.

Infrastructure

The structures and facilities at the Piedmont Research Station are varied to support the diverse research program. The Dairy has just completed renovation to accommodate for real-time data collection on each cow entering the parlor. Cows are equipped with neck tag monitoring devices that send information, such as milk fat, yield, somatic cell, etc. Additionally, to parlor upgrades, we have completed one full year of feeding calves with robots. The calf barn renovation project was completed in September of 2019. Each calf is identified with an RFID tag that communicates with the robot to provide a specific individualized diet. PRS completed construction on a brand new 40x50’ packing house, equipped with state of the art produce handling equipment.

Community Partnership

The Piedmont Research Station is a vital part of the agriculture community and provides avenue for numerous activities. The facilities are used by other state agencies for trainings and workshops such as waste management, small grain production, pesticide handling and emergency preparedness. Educational programs including training sessions and tours are held on the station annually. 4-H, FFA and other youth programs use the dairy and poultry units to train and prepare students for judging events. The Piedmont Research Station is working with local organizations such as soup kitchens and shelters to provide gleaning opportunities. The station also supports the local community through disaster relief efforts by providing manpower, equipment, storage space and other needed services.

Events

The Piedmont Research Station hosts a variety of events each year. Field Days to share research projects include this year small grain virtual field day and hemp virtual field day.     

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