This past February at the Martin County peanut meeting, I learned that Steve Barnes passed away earlier that month. Steve lived and farmed in the blackland area of the NC coastal plain near Roper. He was a farmer and employee of NCDA&CS for many years. Steve and I became friends when I started in my role as the peanut specialist at NC State in 1996. Steve was the superintendent of the Peanut Belt Research Station in Lewiston-Woodville during my first few years on the job. He then transferred to the Tidewater station near Plymouth to finish out his career. He was indeed strong supporter of agriculture in North Carolina. He was passionate about it. I haven’t met anyone who loved agriculture more than Steve. Not even Commissioner Graham who really did love his job.
Steve and I established several long-term trials in 1997 that are still in place today. I eventually established trials at the Upper Coastal Plain Research Station that were like these, but Lewiston-Woodville was the start. These trials have provided information that touch core missions of the land grant system – research, extension, and academic programs. Steve was very hands-on as a superintendent, and that was something I really appreciated. He took his role seriously and worked hard to help project leaders like me be successful. Steve took on a much-appreciated level of ownership of the rotation trials and a sub-surface drip irrigation site (installed in 2001 and is still providing important results to this day.) Steve and I were partners on these projects in a way that went beyond the typical superintendent-project leader relationship.
While Steve and I went in different directions in the early 2000s, his presence continues to help me be a better and more informed researcher. Each time I walk through the long-term tillage and rotation trials and the drip irrigation site, I think of Steve and how it all began. His legacy continues to be lived out in many ways in the agricultural community in North Carolina and beyond.
Sometime in the future I plan to present a seminar on these projects in our department on campus, and Steve will be a central part of that.
