Upper Piedmont Research Station

History, innovation, agriculture and research intersect at the Upper Piedmont Research Station. The 835-acre site was formerly home to the Chinqua-Penn Plantation in the old-belt tobacco production region of North Carolina.

The station’s steep slopes, clay soils and sprawling land are well-suited to its primary research focus on beef cattle. The station has been home to a Black Angus herd for 75 years. Researchers at the station have also maintained no-till plots for crop production and rotation for 40 years.

What We Do

Beef Cattle

The main research projects of the Upper Piedmont Research Station revolve around beef cattle. Investigators study estrus synchronization — or controlling female fertility during the breeding season — feed intake through controlled feeding at calan gates, and solutions to fescue toxicosis.
Fescue — grass that grows throughout the Southeast region — can harbor a fungus that produces a toxin. This toxin causes growth and reproductive problems in cattle cows. The toxin also makes cattle more vulnerable to Bovine Respiratory Disease, which causes almost $1 billion in economic losses a year throughout the U.S.

No-till Farming

Farming without tilling, or turning up the soil to plant seeds, is an on-going research project at the station. No-till farming saves time and money on fuel while also improving soil health. Researchers use fields at the station to investigate soil water and soil energy budgets for evaporation and evapotranspiration, improve efficiency and services of agricultural soils, and develop theoretical frameworks and measurement systems to quantify the complex processes that take place in the soil.

no-till farm land at Upper Piedmont Research Station.

Faster Answers For Cattle Farmers

Science-based solutions are reaching North Carolina’s beef cattle producers quicker, thanks to recent changes at the state’s agricultural research stations.

Read the Story

On-site Weather

For more than 75 years, the Research Stations Division has worked with the National Weather Service (NWS) to provide accurate, statewide weather data. When you hear and see local and national weather reports, you can be sure meteorologists and climatologists are using information gathered from our stations.

Upper Piedmont Weather Station

cows at the Upper Piedmont Research Station

North Carolina Angus Association Spring Fever

Held annually on the first Saturday of May, Angus cattle breeders gather to view, buy, and sell cow/calf pairs, bred cows and bred heifers.

Hospice Fundraising Walk

Held annually on the third Saturday in April.

Chinqua-Penn Trail

Visitors to the station can walk the 1.7-mile Chinqua-Penn Trail that winds through old-growth forests and past grazing pastures, ponds and the remnants of the plantation’s buildings built from locally quarried stone.

Contact Us

Upper Piedmont Research Station
Aaron Snider, Station Superintendent
1944 Wentworth Street
Reidsville, NC 27320-7302
(336) 349-8347
UpperPiedmont.ResSt@ncagr.gov

Upper Piedmont Research Station was established in partnership with the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ (NCDA&CS) Research Stations Division.