Field Day - August 15, 2024
The Southwest Georgia Research and Education Center will hold its field day on Thursday, August 15 beginning at 8:30 a.m. Educational session will feature a variety of row crops. Pesticide credits will be available. RSVP to swgeorgia@uga.edu or contact Scott Rogers at (229) 591-5158.
Scott Rogers
Scott Rogers Superintendent
Southwest Research and Education Center

Southwest Georgia Research and Education Center

108 Experiment Station Road, Plains, Georgia 31780

Contact us

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.
There are currently no FDA-approved drugs that directly repair or prevent brain damage following TBI, a major gap in treatment. (Illustration by Lindsay Robinson) CAES News
New compound may help the brain heal itself after injury
Researchers from the University of Georgia found a new drug that may boost the brain’s ability to heal itself after injury. The discovery could lead to significant advances in treating traumatic brain injuries, or TBIs. There are currently no FDA-approved drugs that directly repair or prevent brain damage following TBI, a major gap in treatment. The compound, called CMX-2043, may help fill that void by increasing the enzymes that play a crucial role in mopping up harmful molecules after injury.
Environmental portrait of Fanbin Kong outside the food science building. CAES News
UGA Libraries’ open access publishing opportunities expand to 7,000+ titles
University of Georgia faculty and graduate students have more than double the opportunities for open access publishing, thanks to new UGA Libraries read and publish agreements with Elsevier and Springer Nature, two of the largest academic journal publishers. The transformative agreements cover article processing charges with nearly 4,000 hybrid journals across the Elsevier and Springer Nature portfolios, adding to previous UGA Libraries agreements in place with Wiley and other publishers. This expands the list of open access publishing opportunities at UGA to more than 7,000 titles.
butterfly-trail-board-of-directors

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.