By Addison DeHaven
American agriculture is a global powerhouse, exporting food to the rest of the world and consistently leading innovations that improve farm productivity and efficiency. Agriculture provides the U.S. economy with over $1.3 trillion annually and is a foundational reason for the country’s global dominance.
But this behemoth of an industry would not have been possible without the passage of a law in the 1800s and the resulting creation of agricultural experiment stations, which provide a network of platforms for the research, teaching and outreach that has built American agriculture into what it is today.
In 1887, Congress passed the Hatch Act, an appropriations bill that provided funding for agricultural experiment stations at land-grant universities in all 50 states. Named after a congressman from Missouri, the Hatch Act not only sought to improve the country’s agricultural productivity through research and outreach, it also wanted to establish a system to disseminate research findings. At the time, producers across the country faced mounting debt and production challenges.
Dakota Agricultural College, the state’s land-grant institution, which would later be known as South Dakota State University, established the South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station with the purchase of 320 acres adjoining the (at the time) 80-acre campus in Brookings. The university bought livestock and equipment, built a large stock barn and elected Lewis McLouth, then the president of the college, as the station’s first director.
Source : sdstate.edu