The invention of the Stoneville Parabolic Subsoiler and the Stoneville Parabolic Chisel Plow were major developments in engineering at this time. Dr. Gordon Tupper, the agricultural engineer, developed this equipment that revolutionized the practice of subsoiling. “When I came to Stoneville in 1969, I mainly worked in cotton harvesting, developing the cotton combine and working on narrow-row and cotton stripper harvesting. In 1972, Fred Cooke asked me to look at subsoiling. After months of research, the decision was made to design a new type of subsoiler shank to reduce horsepower. A simple curve was selected, the parabola. When the final design was selected, it was built in the research shop at Stoneville,” comments, Tupper. “The first day of testing was so impressive that it immediately replaced the straight shank that was currently being used by the Delta Station. Horsepower was reduced by 30 percent.”
The first year of testing showed an increase in yield, a decrease in horsepower required and tractor wheel slippage, and an increase in the amount of fracture. It rapidly took over in areas where subsoiling was needed to maximize yield. By 1985, the design of this Stoneville innovation had been adopted by 45 farm equipment manufacturers. It also was implemented worldwide in nine countries.
1994 began another revolutionary era in cotton production research under the direction of Delta Research and Extension Center Head Dr. James Smith. The early-maturing varieties that had once dominated cotton farming were replaced with the invention of Bt cotton in 1995. This genetically altered Bt cotton contained a gene that killed worms as they attacked the cotton plant. The mid-1990s also brought Roundup Ready cotton, which could be sprayed liberally with Roundup weed killer and not injure the crop.
-100 Years of Agricultural Research, The Delta Branch Experiment Station (2004)
