Field Day—August 16, 2023
The Southwest Georgia Research and Education Center will hold a Field Day on August 16, 2023. Topics will include variety testing, plant breeding, pest management, weed management, and more. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. with the farm tour starting at 9:00 a.m. Pre-register by August 11, 2023 by contacting us at 229-824-4375.
Row crops
Scott Rogers Superintendent
Southwest Research and Education Center

Southwest Georgia Research and Education Center

108 Experiment Street, Plains, Georgia 31780

Contact us

Video Tour of the Center


SWREC Field Day 2021


Our Work and Priorities

The 512-acre Southwest Georgia Research and Education Center is located near Plains, Georgia. Established in 1951, the station’s purpose was to stimulate the rural economy by helping area farmers diversify and increase crop yields in the upper coastal plain region.

The facility has heavy red clay soil that is sometimes difficult soil to farm but can be highly productive when carefully managed. Research here is geared to the 240-day growing season and an average annual rainfall of 48 inches. Current research focuses on every major row crop in south Georgia: peanuts, cotton, corn, soybeans, grain sorghum, wheat and canola. The center now has some form of irrigation on at least 90% of the cropland to maintain crops during the area’s frequent droughts.

Six full-time employees maintain research for college and USDA researchers. The employees also partner with the nearby Sumter County Extension office.

About us


We investigate the latest production and technological practices, striving for producer profitability and sustainability.
Research and Education Centers (RECs) are hubs for innovation and discovery that address the most critical issues facing agricultural production throughout the state. Ultimately, our findings are shared with stakeholders through the extension and outreach efforts of the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
Cotton being harvested and loaded into truck. CAES News
Georgia growers riding high on cotton boom during 2022 season
Georgia cotton growers are starting the 2023 season with a boost from near-record-breaking yields last year. The United States Department of Agriculture released final yield data in late May, confirming the second-highest yields on record, as forecasted by University of Georgia cotton experts in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
CAES researchers and UGA Extension agents hope their research findings will provide updated guidelines for producers to improve precooling efficiency and reduce postharvest food losses. CAES News
CAES researchers find simple solution to keep produce fresh, fight food waste
Consumers hold high standards for fresh food, which farmers aim to meet, but hot summer temperatures and long-haul deliveries can degrade quality even before produce makes it into stores. In a collaborative study, Angelos Deltsidis, assistant professor of horticulture in the University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, teamed up with UGA Cooperative Extension agents to improve upon a decades-old method of precooling to increase efficiency and reduce postharvest losses along the value chain.
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Butterfly Trail Board of Directors

The Rosalynn Carter Butterfly Trail Board of Directors recently meet at the Southwest Georgia Research and Education Center in Plains, Georgia on Friday, July 23, 2021 to discuss the Rosalynn Carter Butterfly Trail landscape project. Pictured front row: LeAnn Smith, Mrs. Rosalynn Carter; back row: Julia Snipes, Willie Maxwell, Ernest Koone, Lonnie Wise and Annette Wise.


rosalynn-carter-signing-book

Book signing with Rosalynn Carter

Grace Wooten with Ragan-Smith Associates, Inc of Chattanooga, Tennessee and 2016 UGA Landscape Architecture graduate (pictured right) receives a signed gardening book by Rosalynn Smith Carter. The new garden for the Rosalynn Carter Butterfly Trail will be a 1930s era garden based on Mrs. Carter memories of her childhood garden.