1. 50 Years: Locals join celebration at research farm
By JOAN PLOTNICK
The Clayton News-Star
To most of the about 350 people who came to celebrate the 50th
anniversary of the Central Crops
Research Station in Clayton, the station’s history was about groundbreaking agricultural
research.
To members of the Atkinson, Hinton, Johnson and Strickland families, however, it was about
coming home.
Marie Atkinson lived at the station in the 1970s while her parents worked the grounds.
“We came to reminisce and to see everything and visit with people,” she said. “We came to see
what is still here and what changed. It’s like coming home.”
The 500-acre Central Crops Research Station is a joint project between North Carolina State
University and the N.C. Department of Agriculture – as indicated by the painted “NCSU” and
“NCDA” stone signs that mark its entrance on U.S. 70.
It is one of 18 research stations in the state that have been instrumental in advancing everything
from tobacco and horticultural production to hog and turkey production. A current focus is on
creating economical biodiesel from soybeans, rapeseed and switch grass.
Johnny C. Wynne, dean of the NCSU College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, said, “The work
done at the research stations across the state provided us with agricultural opportunities statewide
over the years. What we find here in the research stations eventually finds its way to the fields,
tables and economy of North Carolina.
“This is one of the busiest stations in the system. The reason is obvious – its proximity to the
(NCSU) campus in Raleigh.”
About 10 families lived on the farm until about the mid-1980s. Two supervisors still live on the
land. In the past, adults who lived at the station worked the land while their children were in
school – and they all worked over the summer. Crops that were not used for research were
divided evenly among the families living there.
“We’d wake up in the morning and find bushels and bushels of peaches and corn on the porch,”
Atkinson said.
Her daughter, Tonya Atkinson Mitchner, spoke fondly of how the young children would all stay
in the same house all day, with various mothers to watch them.
“I feel like a little girl again,” she said.

2. The celebration included two continual tractor rides through the station, which stopped at various
points for presentations on either “Agriculture in Alternative Energy Production” or “Agriculture
in Health and Nutrition.”
At the first stop on the Alternative Energy tour, Joe Burton, a crop science professor at NCSU
spoke of using soybeans for biodiesel with the enthusiasm of a boy discussing his new bike at
Christmas.
Burton said soy diesel is renewable, biodegradable, non-toxic, and produces less wear and tear
on motor vehicle engines, resulting in more miles per gallon than regular diesel fuel.
Most importantly, he said, it can be produced right in North Carolina. Burton said a recent study
in Minnesota found that if large numbers of vehicles use a diesel mix that contains only 5 percent
soy diesel, it can provide a significant economic stimulus to the state.
“It’s a great thing, soy diesel. There really is no downside,” Burton said.
At the next stop, NCSU researcher Kim Tunsgate argued that canola diesel really is the way to
go.
She said canola oil is very popular among consumers because it is low in saturated fat, and that
this nation currently imports about a million gallons a year from Canada.
Canola has several advantages over soy, Tunsgate said, such as consumer popularity and
producing more oil per acre than soy. Oil that is not eaten by consumers can be used for
biodiesel production, she said, and the remaining rapeseed plant can be used for high protein
animal feed.
Central Crops Station currently is testing 36 varieties of rapeseed for canola oil to see which ones
grow best in North Carolina. About five North Carolina counties currently grow rapeseed for
canola oil. Most U.S. production is centered in the Great Plains states.
Sam Blake of the Grain Growers Cooperative, another tour participant, put the science in
layman’s terms when he said – only half-jokingly – that the same technology used to make
biodiesel from grains “has been around for years in the backwoods of North Carolina making
moonshine.”
Between stops, Daisy Hinton, Katie Strickland and Madie Strickland Johnson laughed as they
pointed to where their houses used to be and where they’d run between the rows of corn.
Hinton reared her eight children on that land.
Strickland said, “The best thing about growing up on the farm is that everybody looked out for
one another. We had our ups and downs, but when it came to the bottom line, we were all family.
We’d sleep with our door open. We have slept on the front porch.”

3. As they exited the tour, Hinton ran over to attorney Allen Tew, who also came to reminisce, as
well as partake in the free barbeque dinner provided to participants.
“My brother (Frank) and I used to work out here with Daisy and all these good folks,” he said.
“The good thing is that there is no work for us to do today.”
Tew and the others worked under the center’s first superintendent, William C. Allsbrook (1954-
1974). In the commemorative booklet, Allsbrook’s son, William Allsbrook Jr., said of his father:
“He was devoted to two things: (1) his family and friends and (2) doing his best to make Central
Crops the finest station anywhere…It is important to note that, for over 50 years, he also relied
heavily on my mother’s intelligence, grace, insight, encouragement and support.”
One of the things Allsbrook’s son is most proud of is that his father appointed the first black man
to a supervisory position at a NCSU Research station – Wilbert Pittman.
Central Crops Research Station Supt. Reid Evans said the celebration’s barbeque supper was in
homage to Allsbrook, who instituted the yearly farm supper at the station.
Sandy Maddox, director of the station, said the station also provides educational tractor rides for
public schools, civic groups and day care centers, as well as staff lectures as requested. The
Clayton High School Envirothon Team even practices on the site.
Thank-you notes from such groups were posted prominently in the celebration’s display area.
“We are an asset to the local community in what we can offer in agricultural education,” she
said. “And a lot of what we do fits into the regular school curriculum in terms of math, science,
even reading and spelling.”
Hanging over the celebration, however, was a concern about encroaching development. A large
strip mall anchored by a Wal-Mart Supercenter is located about a-quarter mile form the site. A
large day care center recently has been built next door.
Katie Strickland asked Burton if the site is in danger of being sold for development. He replied,
“I think it will last a long time because it is hard to replace, especially being so close to the
university. I think the value of the land, from a research point of view, really can’t be replaced at
any price.”
Evans also expressed concern.
“I worry some (about it being sold), but the university has a big investment in it, so I hope they
will continue with it,” he said.