SCOTT, Miss.-(Bolivar Commercial)--Nearly a year after the facility was acquired by agriculture and technology powerhouse Monsanto, Delta and Pine Land in Scott hosted media and ag industry representatives last week as it showcased changes to the facility and new programs.
"There has been a tremendous amount of investment and change that has occurred at this site over the last 10 or so months," said Kevin Eblen, Delta and Pine Land Business Lead.
Among the developments at D&PL is the implementation of the Scott Learning Center.
Eblen noted that due to the increased demand for commodities on a global scale, Southern farmers need resources to enable them best utilize products to produce maximum yields.
"We have the resources to keep up with this demand and really turn the fuel versus food debate into a dialogue that both sides can be happy with," he said. "We have the products and technology in our pipeline to do it, and this learning center will aid us in helping our customers with agronomic understanding."
According to Eblen, the purpose of the center is to provide a place where cotton, soybean and corn producers, retailers and crop consultants can learn about the features and benefits of products offered by D&PL.
Dr. Chism Craig, Scott Learning Center manager, explained the center was developed through a series of transformations to D&PL facilities over the last six months.
"This has been a really exciting process," said Craig. "We had some extensive field work that took place in a short period of time to turn this facility from the farm layout to a more research based site. We also installed new irrigation systems and purchased new planting equipment."
Craig said that D&PL in Scott now features two of the first planters ever built using the John Deere XT Unit along with site-specific RTK system technology.
"As we become more advanced in the field, producers will come to us for knowledge on this technology," he said.
Craig also explained the site's new concept on the old "Heaven and Highway" field design know as a Delta landmark along Miss. Highway 1.
"We have taken those fields, which even from when I was a child, I can remember, always featured some of the most beautiful cotton in the country, and improved upon that," said Craig. "We have split the fields into two sections, an irrigated lot and a dry-land section. They are mirror images as you go down through the turn-row. A farmer can look at the same technology under conditions they may have on their own farm."
He also explained the stress mitigation program in use at the Scott Learning Center. Through the mitigation process plots of corn, soybean and cotton are planted under tents and protected from natural elements.
"We are the first ones to ever do this in the South," said Craig. "Several years before these products launch, we want to be able to tell producers how to best utilize them and this technology stands up to different conditions.
"The mitigation tents allow us to manipulate and control exposure of these crops in order to find out what these technologies are capable of," he continued.
Visitors to the Scott Learning Center will receive team training, demonstration tours and data collection that showcases Monsanto's traits and gerplasms.
Participants of the center will also have the opportunity to gain inside knowledge on D&PL technology and crop varieties three to five years ahead of launch.
Information will be provided on Asgrow soybeans, twin-row planting, Dekalb corn hybrids, drought resistant corn, Deltapine cotton seed, Bollgard and Bollgard II, Roundup Ready & Roundup Ready Flex and YieldGard.
"This is an opportunity to let people get out in the field and have conversations with our scientists about what these products can do for them," said Ron Lloyd, Monsanto U.S. Lead for Agronomy and Learning Centers.
Eblen noted that Monsanto features a similar site in Illinois, a place that brings in 8,000 farmers, retailers and crop consultants a year.
He noted that the Scott Learning Center has the potential to bring a economic boost to the surrounding area.
"Vision-wise it would be nice to get to the place that our facility in Illinois is at," said Eblen. "I think that the programs will bring people in and that means hotels, restaurants in the area."
