You never know what you’ll see in the field at the J. Phil Campbell Research and Education Center in Oconee County – maybe a combine harvesting corn or perhaps a harvester picking cotton. Maybe you’ll even see a class of children participating in an educational field day.
Part of the University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) network of research centers, it investigates the latest production and technological practices, striving for producer profitability and sustainability in beef cattle, forages, cotton, weed and pest control, and other specialty crops like hemp.
Located in Watkinsville, Georgia, it is the newest research and education center in CAES. Research and education centers are hubs for innovation and discovery that address the most critical issues facing agricultural production throughout the state.
Formerly a U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service station, the 1,055-acre facility was closed by USDA in 2012 and reopened as part of CAES the following year. In addition to its long legacy of research on grazing land and cattle herd management – among other areas – it is ideally suited for teaching, extension and demonstration activities such as Beginning Farmers and Ranchers Training.
It is named after J. Phil Campbell, Sr., a pioneer in agricultural work.