Carvel Research and Education Center
The Elbert N. and Ann V. Carvel Research and Education Center
The Carvel Center campus, located in Georgetown in Sussex County, fulfills the tripartite mission of our land-grant university — teaching, research and Extension outreach. The Carvel Center serves as the southern agriculture experiment station for the University of Delaware College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and encompasses the Thurman Adams Jr. Agriculture Research Farm (347 acres) with a focus on agronomic, vegetable and horticulture crops, the Warrington Irrigation Research Farm (120 acres) in Harbeson, Lasher Laboratory for poultry diagnostics, and the Jones Hamilton Environmental Research House. Our campus is also home to Sussex County Cooperative Extension providing programing in 4-H Youth Development, Poultry, Family and Consumer Sciences, and Lawn and Garden.
With an overall staff of 50 full-time administrators, agents, faculty, and specialists, assisted by 50 to 70 seasonal part-time employees and student interns, the Carvel Center paves the way in serving the needs of the agricultural industry, youth and families, students and residents of our great state. Learn more about our history.
Our research and educational facilities
Upcoming Events
Montage of Extension Staff in Action in Delaware: youtube.com/watch?v=UHPYhBIWRj0
-
The White House pushes healthy eating. It cut a landmark nutrition education program
July 27, 2026 | Written By: Joe HernandezThe decision to end SNAP-Ed at a time of rising food prices and the Trump administration's push for healthy eating has mystified nutrition advocates and public health experts alike. -
Country Life: What NZ can learn from a US farmer who coped with H5N1
July 27, 2026 | Written By: Sally Round RNZ Journalist and Gianina SchwaneckeDisbelief and a sense of failure swirled through Georgie Cartanza's mind as she found more and more dead birds at her broiler chicken farm on the eastern coast of the United States last year. -
Kim Silva provides prevention education and promotes mental health awareness to Delawareans
July 22, 2026 | Written by AJ RubinettiKim Silva serves as an extension agent in prevention education.
History of the Agriculture Research Center in Georgetown
A Delaware General Assembly act provided the establishment of an agricultural substation for southern Delaware. The first structure at the new "Substation" opened in 1942, which is still in use — now as storage space.
A more thorough, published history written by former Extension specialist and former Delaware Secretary of Agriculture, Ed Kee, is now available in the fall of 2019.