Charles Mitchell, Auburn University
Normie Buehring, Mississippi State University
Authors’ note: Dennis Reginelli, area Extension agent for agronomic crops in eastern Mississippi, and Charlie Stokes, area Extension agent for agronomic crops in northern Mississippi, provided much help with the case studies in this chapter.
The Alabama and Mississippi Blackland Prairie major land resource area (MLRA 135A) has a land area of 6,370 square miles (4,076,800 acres) in central Alabama and eastern Mississippi [27] (Figure 19.1). About 53 percent of the total area is in Alabama and 47 percent in Mississippi. The region has a rolling topography with elevations ranging 100–590 feet. This area was once known as the “Canebrake” and was the center of cotton production in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Today, it is called the “Black Belt” or “Blackland Prairie.”
The climate is hot and humid, with a long growing season. Annual frost-free days average 250 days across the region. Average annual rainfall is between 53–61 inches with wet winters, wet springs and relatively dry autumns. Although high intensity, convective thunderstorms occur during the summer, periods of short-term drought occur frequently during the growing season. Due to the depth to groundwater for irrigation wells and the associated pumping costs, little row-crop acreage is irrigated. A few farms have constructed large surface-water impoundment structures for supplemental irrigation of limited acreage.
Currently, about 16 percent of the land is used for crop production, 29 percent is in grasslands and 48 percent is in forests [27]. The rest is in urban or industrial development or water, including aquaculture production, which is expanding. Major crops include corn, cotton, soybeans and small grains. Most of the acreage in recent years has been in corn and soybean production with some wheat and wheat>soybean double-cropping. Beef cattle, principally cow-calf operations, occupy most of the grazing lands. At one time, dairies were a major user of the grassland areas. They have been replaced by catfish farms and other agricultural enterprises.
Download the tables from Chapter 19.
Table of Contents
- Author and Contributor List
- Foreword
- Chapter 1: Introduction to Conservation Tillage Systems
- Chapter 2: Conservation Tillage Systems: History, the Future and Benefits
- Chapter 3: Benefits of Increasing Soil Organic Matter
- Chapter 4: The Calendar: Management Tasks by Season
- Chapter 5: Cover Crop Management
- Chapter 6: In-Row Subsoiling to Disrupt Soil Compaction
- Chapter 7: Cash Crop Selection and Rotation
- Chapter 8: Sod, Grazing and Row-Crop Rotation: Enhancing Conservation Tillage
- Chapter 9: Planting in Cover Crop Residue
- Chapter 10: Soil Fertility Management
- Chapter 11: Weed Management and Herbicide Resistance
- Chapter 12: Plant-Parasitic Nematode Management
- Chapter 13: Insect Pest Management
- Chapter 14: Water Management
- Chapter 15: Conservation Economics: Budgeting, Cover Crops and Government Programs
- Chapter 16: Biofuel Feedstock Production: Crop Residues and Dedicated Bioenergy Crops
- Chapter 17: Tennessee Valley and Sandstone Plateau Region Case Studies
- Chapter 18: Southern Coastal Plain and Atlantic Coast Flatwoods Case Studies
- Cash Crop Selection and Crop Rotations
- Specific Management Considerations
- Case Study Farms
- Producer Experiences
- Transition to No-Till
- Changes in Natural Resources
- Changes in Agricultural Production
- Specialty Crops
- Why Change to No-Till?
- Supporting Technologies and Practices
- The Future
- Research Case Study
- Summary
- Chapter 19: Alabama and Mississippi Blackland Prairie Case Studies
- Chapter 20: Southern Piedmont Case Studies
- Appendix
- Glossary
- References