A New Research and Education Center 

It became apparent in the 1970s that the old office and meeting facility, built in 1931, were inadequate for the expanded number of faculty and staff associated with the substation. In addition, the expansion of Extension programs associated with the new Extension faculty positions created a need for meeting spaces and service laboratories, including those for soils and plants.

With the support of the farm leadership in western Kentucky, plans were made to build a 35,000-square-foot research and education center to replace the old facility. The building was completed and dedicated in 1980. In 1989, the building was renamed as the Rottgering-Kuegel Building, honoring Howard Rottgering and Bill Kuegel, West Kentucky farm leaders who were instrumental in securing funding for the facility.

The landscaping around the new building was developed by Win Dunwell (hired as an Extension horticulturist in 1979), who envisioned it as more than just landscaping. Conforming to the station's general purpose, Dunwell developed the landscaping as a botanical garden and a nursery crop development center. The collection of plants surrounding the building allowed researchers, nursery crop growers, landscape contractors, maintenance operators, garden center operators and consumers to observe how various plants perform under western Kentucky conditions.

New scientists joining the Princeton faculty during the decade included: 

• Don Shurley, Dick Trimble, agricultural economics 
• Paul Legg, Bill Maksymowicz, and David Ditsch, agronomy 
• Roy Burris, Jim Randolph, animal sciences
• Doug Johnson, entomology; 
• Kent Mullinex, Mark Hurley, and Dwight Wolfe, Horticulture 
• Wayne Wilcox, Paul Bachi, and Don Hershman, plant pathology 
• Dan Kirkland, regulatory services  

Difficult Years for Farmers

Strong commodity prices and substantial demand on the international market for U.S. farm products drove up farmland prices in the 1970s, prompting farmers to seek ways to increase yields. Rising farm income, coupled with high inflation rates – at times in the double digits – made farmland an attractive, but speculative, investment. Higher interest rates in the early part of the 1980s and a softening of export demand led to cash flow problems for many farmers during the mid-decade. On average, farmland prices dropped a third between 1980 and 1985. Farmers looked to agricultural scientists to help them improve on-farm efficiency to help them keep their operations out of bankruptcy.

During the decade, scientists at the station in Princeton responded to their calls in various ways. Research into improved on-farm efficiency, including a corn and soybean input management study, was undertaken. Extension programs were initiated to help financially strapped farmers maintain their sanity, if not their operations.

Soil Compaction

By the late 1970s, soil compaction, resulting from the use of modern but heavy equipment in fields and pastures, was increasingly recognized as a significant contributor to poor plant performance. Even though scientists suspected the increased use of heavy equipment was causing problems in the underlying soil layers, determining the exact location and extent was difficult because practical, reliable equipment to measure soil compaction had not been developed.

In the 1980s, UK Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering professor Larry Wells and extension soils specialist Lloyd Murdock led the effort to develop a lower-priced soil penetrometer as a cost-effective tool that could quantify soil resistance to pressure. While soil resistance is a more accurate measure of soil strength than compaction, it can offer a good indication of compaction when soil moisture conditions are near full capacity. Almost every county Extension office in Kentucky has since been equipped with a soil penetrometer and agents are trained in its use, helping the state to gather valuable insight into the extent of soil compaction and its effects on Kentucky agriculture.

Crop Rotation Revisited

Although research at the station in the 1920s and 1930s had established the benefits of long-term crop rotation for grain crops planted after grass and legumes, the practice declined during the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s throughout much of the state as grain cropping intensified. The yield benefits of crop rotations were often overlooked, as fertilizers and pesticides were used as substitutes for crop rotation.

Agronomists James Herbek and Lloyd Murdock initiated an evaluation of crop rotation involving corn and soybeans using modern production technologies in 1981; the research continued through 1987. The research results were startling. The studies showed an average crop rotation yield advantage of 10 bushels of corn per acre when corn was grown alternately with soybeans and a five-bushel-per-acre increase for soybeans when grown alternately with corn. As a result of this research, crop rotation is once again considered an essential component of cropping systems in major grain-producing areas.  

Improving Urea Nitrogen Use

Agronomist Lloyd Murdock initiated research in 1980 to enhance the utilization of urea nitrogen for fertilizing cropland. Although urea was a less expensive nitrogen source, farmers often found that it volatilized to the air soon after application. A urease inhibitor was known to have the potential to minimize the volatilization of urea. Some of the earliest field work to evaluate urease inhibitors was conducted at the station. In part, as a result of this research, urease inhibitors are widely used in the U.S. to prevent nitrogen losses when urea fertilizers are applied.

Corn and Soybean Irrigation Studies 

Also started in 1980 was research into the economic feasibility of using irrigation for corn and soybeans. Although Kentucky’s annual rainfall is sufficient for growing a great crop, it is common to experience long periods of drought during the growing season. Research conducted by James Herbek, Lloyd Murdock, and Monroe Rasnake investigated the yield benefits that could be expected from long-term irrigation for both corn and soybeans. The decade-long study found that the yield benefits from irrigation for corn averaged 48 bushels per acre and for soybeans, 16 bushels per acre. The results of the study led to a substantial increase in the production of both corn and soybeans under irrigation. 

Intensive Wheat Production

In 1981, a research program on intensive wheat production was initiated by Lloyd Murdock and James Herbek to improve wheat yields. New varieties of soft red winter wheat were being introduced, and these varieties had higher yield potentials than older varieties. In the late 1980s, other scientists from several disciplines joined the research effort. The areas studied included varietal differences, seeding accuracy, row spacing, nitrogen timing and rates, use of fungicides, input management, and growth regulators.

Also, during the 1980s, with the development of suitable no-till drills, agronomic research into the feasibility of cropping wheat using no-till techniques found that adjustments in management practices were necessary. Research found that yields of no-till wheat could be comparable to those of tilled wheat. 

Plant Pathology and Soybean Cyst Nematode

In 1982, a plant pathology position was established at the research station, and Wayne Wilcox was hired as an Extension plant pathologist. A diagnostic laboratory was established, and a plant pathology research specialist, Paul Bachi, was hired in 1983. Don Hershman replaced Wilcox in 1984. Soon after Hershman’s arrival, the soybean cyst nematode laboratory was relocated from Lexington to Princeton. 

Hershman initiated a soybean cyst nematode program to help farmers in the area identify and control the pest. Through an aggressive research and Extension program, farmers used the recommendations of the research to improve yields in infected fields by some 10 percent. The effort to control the pest continues to this day through research, education, and diagnostic services.  

Farmer Hotline and Financial Education

With sagging commodity prices, farmland prices plummeted in the mid-1980s. That, coupled with higher interest rates, put many farmers in a cash flow squeeze. Don Shurley and Dick Trimble developed a toll-free “hotline” to help farmers under the stress of impending foreclosures. Trimble also established an educational program to teach farmers how to track their various enterprises and make more informed decisions based on accurate record-keeping. Trimble augmented his recordkeeping work throughout the 1990s by teaching farmers about borrowing through an Extension and Farm Services Administration-sponsored program for borrowers.