About the Jamie L. Whitten Plant Materials Center

Updated 08/25/2008

Description of the PMC Service Area

The areas served by the Jamie L. Whitten Plant Materials Center are usually rolling except for nearly level floodplains and narrow cliffs along streams and rivers.

The climate is temperate and humid. Average rainfall is about 50 inches, and the temperature increases greatly from north to south. Frost-free days range from about 200 in the north to 340 in the extreme south.

Although rice, sugarcane and catfish farming are important in some locations, cotton and soybeans dominate the service area. Continuous cropping of cotton and soybeans using conventional methods are a major cause of soil erosion in the service area. Other causes of erosion needing attention are clear cutting, construction, and mining. Facilities at the PMC consist of an office and laboratory complex, a greenhouse complex, seed cleaning and warehouse buildings, shop and equipment storage areas, and fuel, fertilizer, and herbicide storage buildings. A constructed wetland provides waste and storm water treatment for the greenhouse complex.

Many of the facilities listed above resulted from an expansion program begun in 1990 to upgrade this center. The service area includes portions of seven states, with the laboratory facility designed to meet the water quality and forage testing needs of this and other PMCs. Space is available in the greenhouse complex for expansion of laboratory capacity as future objectives and funding permit.

The PMC occupies approximately 200 acres of open fields. The growing areas consist of both bottomland and upland fields, with most being of irregular size and shape, defined by streams, drainages, roads, and other topographic features. Bottomland fields primarily have Oaklimeter silt loam soils, which are acid and often wet. With proper drainage and management these soils can become very productive. The upland soils are predominantly Loring and Grenada silt loams with fragipans. These soils are also acid and moderately to highly productive. This variety of available growing sites permits plant evaluation under conditions representative of much of the service area. Tests may also be located at sites off the center, which further broadens the available range of testing situations. Specialized aquatic cells are located at the PMC for use in production and evaluation of aquatic plants.

Getting to the Jamie L. Whitten PMC

The Jamie L. Whitten Plant Materials Center is located in northwest Mississippi approximately 112 miles North of Jackson, Mississippi and 85 miles South of Memphis, Tennessee off I-55. From Jackson or Memphis take exit 220 (Tillatoba Road) and travel approximately five miles east on highway 330.

History of the PMC

The Coffeeville PMC began operations on August 8, 1960 functioning both as a PMC and a seed production unit for the Yazoo-Little Tallahatchie Flood Prevention Project. The seed production unit was discontinued in 1982, and the plant materials function was reorganized and expanded. During its tenure, the PMC has evaluated over 6,800 plant accessions for erosion control on cropland, stream channels and critical areas, as well as for forage production, wildlife food and cover, and wetland mitigation and restoration.

Cooperative Work at the PMC

The PMC works cooperatively with other agencies and organizations in carrying out its functions. Cooperators include the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station (MAFES), Mississippi Association of Conservation Districts, USDA Forest Service, USDA Agricultural Research Service, and various colleges and universities. The PMC also has cooperative agreements with the National Park Service (NPS) and the Mississippi Military Department.

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