Labs Across the Land

The year was 1881. President James Garfield was assassinated, Clara Barton founded the Red Cross, a gunfight broke out at the O.K. Corral, and Whitman H. Jordan, a chemist, planted 144 one-eighth-acre plots of corn, oats, wheat, clover, and timothy grass in fields beside faculty cottages at the Pennsylvania State College.

The meticulously arranged plots became living laboratories that provided some of the first scientific insights into soil nutrient management. Researchers tested crop and fertilizer combinations and provided soil analyses. Jordan issued free bulletins to Pennsylvania farmers, explaining the results of his experiments and offering new and innovative approaches to help them increase their profits.

The Jordan Soil Fertility Plots in July 1909. Photographs courtesy of the Eberly Family Special Collections Library. 

Six years later, the Pennsylvania Agricultural Experiment Station was established with passage of the Hatch Act of 1887 providing federal appropriations to continue offering soil tests and fertilizer analyses from Jordan’s plots. It also provided Pennsylvanians with science-based information on soil chemistry and fertility, crop production and rotation, animal nutrition and breeding, pest and disease control, and food processing and safety.

Long ago swallowed up by an expanding Penn State campus, the Jordan Soil Fertility Plots still provide researchers with the nation’s oldest collection of soil samples from field research plots. And the Pennsylvania Agricultural Experiment Station, which was originally located in what stands as the Arts Cottage at Penn State University Park, now supports about 280 active research projects at strategic locations across the commonwealth with a goal of enhancing agricultural productivity, advancing food systems, and promoting environmental resilience.

More than 250 faculty in the College of Agricultural Sciences have research and extension appointments connected to the experiment station, studying soil health, invasive pests, food safety, climate resilience, and biotechnology. It is one of the largest and most diverse agricultural research enterprises in the Northeast.

“The Agricultural Experiment Station is at the heart of the land-grant mission, where hundreds of researchers conduct research to advance agriculture from molecule to field and provide practical solutions that support farmers, communities, and the environment,” said Troy Ott, Peter and Ann Tombros Dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences and director of the Agricultural Experiment Station. “The results of this research benefit stakeholders and citizens across the commonwealth and beyond.”

The statewide network, with research centers in Adams, Lancaster, and Erie Counties, acts as an industry testbed for fruit growers, vegetable producers, grain farmers, and the ornamental plant sector, explained Beth Gugino, associate director of the Agricultural Experiment Station.

The long‑running field plots at Rock Springs, near the University Park campus, provide essential data for seed developers, crop consultants, and conservation planners. In each region, the landscape serves as a laboratory for crops, forests, and experimental trials, all rooted in a long legacy of scientific exploration to benefit the people of Pennsylvania and beyond.

A Testbed for Industry

For Pennsylvania’s agricultural industries, the Agricultural Experiment Station is not an abstract academic entity. It is an economic engine.

Its researchers generate scientific knowledge to power practical solutions to support the commonwealth’s $132 billion agricultural industry. That includes combating emerging animal, fruit, and vegetable diseases; evaluating forage and grain crop varieties; and developing sustainable forest management techniques.

Since its inception, Penn State Extension has used its expertise and science-based information to help growers. Photographs courtesy of the Eberly Family Special Collections Library. 

The research conducted through the centers provides scientific basis to the state’s fertilizer laws, water‑quality standards, and biosecurity and food safety protocols. Long-running studies provide the foundational data companies need to innovate in emerging industries such as controlled‑environment agriculture, biobased materials, and precision livestock and farming technologies.

“As growers, we’re usually focused on growing the best crop that we can,” said Ben Keim, a fifth-generation farmer who manages Keim’s Orchard in Boyertown. “We know all about fruit and tree health and soil health, but when it comes to computers or technology, that’s where we start to back away. That’s when we turn to the experts at the experiment station and ask, ‘What can you do to help us?’”

For example, Long He, associate professor in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, conducts his research at Penn State’s Fruit Research and Extension Center in Biglerville. He partners closely with growers to advance mechanization and automation for specialty crops, particularly in tree-fruit production. 

He has developed robotic systems for crop-load management, thinning technologies, and precision pollination tools, as well as sensor‑based systems that improve irrigation, spraying efficiency, and pest and disease management in orchards. His goal is ultimately to enhance yield for growers, reduce labor demands, and optimize resource use through innovation.

“Growers can visit the Fruit Research and Extension Center and see this great technology,” said Keim, who is a graduate of Penn State and served as president of the State Horticultural Association of Pennsylvania, a longtime financial supporter of the center. “For most growers, it’s just not economically viable to test out new technology at scale, because at the end of the day, the economics drive everything. People like Dr. He bring these innovations to be trialed at the center, so we as growers don’t have to take that risk.”

Extension personnel have tested technologies to ensure the industry has the most recent information on best practices. Photographs courtesy of the Eberly Family Special Collections Library. 

In an era of climate volatility, shifting global markets, and supply‑chain pressures, the center serves as a kind of regional insurance policy for growers, Keim said, always running experiments, always collecting data, always preparing for what comes next.

Rooted in the Land-Grant Mission

The origins of the Agricultural Experiment Station stretch back to the college that preceded it, the Farmers’ High School, founded in 1855 on the premise that scientific inquiry could bolster a young nation’s food system and that an educational system that was accessible to the children of the working class would result in a more vibrant economy and democracy. That belief coincided with a sweeping national push to expand agriculture, settle the West, and develop public education through federal land policy.

The Morrill Act of 1862 turned those ambitions into law, granting public lands to states for the establishment of colleges devoted to agriculture. Pennsylvania’s share amounted to 780,000 acres of land in the western part of the country, ceded to the U.S. government through treaties with indigenous nations and converted into an endowment supporting what eventually became the Pennsylvania State College.

When Congress passed the Morrill Act in 1862, it reimagined American higher education, granting each state federal land to finance colleges devoted to “the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts.” From its start, Penn State’s purpose was explicitly agricultural: to advance scientific instruction and apply it to the practical challenges of farming.

Evan Pugh, Penn State’s first president, believed the institution’s mission required not only teaching but also a network of agricultural experiment stations—institutions dedicated to independent, empirical research that would feed directly into the nation’s farms. He had seen such stations in Germany and envisioned an American counterpart that would democratize scientific knowledge for rural communities.

In 1887, Pugh’s idea of federally backed experiment stations came to fruition. Congress passed the Hatch Act, establishing a national network of agricultural experiment stations tied to land-grant colleges. For Pennsylvania, the legislation provided steady federal funding, matched dollar‑for‑dollar by the state, to support what was then a fledgling research operation but would become a cornerstone of the state’s agricultural sector.

“This is the core of our land-grant mission, having places where we can test innovations under real‑world conditions while providing a trusted, shared space that both industry and growers can use to their advantage,” Gugino said. “These research farms have a long and meaningful history, dating back to the very establishment of our institution.”

At the end of the 19th century, American farming was dominated by practical know-how, passed from one generation to the next, while the country’s few agricultural schools focused largely on hands-on training. Pugh, inspired by the experimental farms and scientific stations he’d seen across Europe, believed that the United States needed something more ambitious: a national system of agricultural science.

That vision ultimately helped shape the Agricultural Experiment Station at Penn State. By 1889, the experiment station was fully operational, conducting fertilizer trials, soil analyses, and crop experiments that would guide farmers throughout the commonwealth.

Congress repeatedly expanded and refined the program through legislation: the Adams Act of 1906 boosted funding for original research; the Purnell Act of 1925 broadened research into rural life and economics; the Bankhead-Jones Act of 1935 introduced formula-based funding tied to the rural population.

Further, Cooperative Extension was established in 1914 with the passage of the Smith-Lever Act, creating a distinct mandate for land-grant institutions to deliver outreach and education across their states. These functions are inherently complementary, and the research and extension centers were created to integrate these functions to serve stakeholders seamlessly.

As agriculture advanced throughout the 20th century, the station continued to advance innovation in farming while federal legislation expanded funding and institutional expectations. It linked research with Cooperative Extension, rural development, forestry, economics, and animal health. As the station’s responsibilities expanded, so did its footprint, acquiring land in Erie, Lancaster, and Adams Counties for specialized field research and later building major facilities at Rock Springs now known as the Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center.

What began as a handful of soil plots on campus became an integrated, statewide network addressing issues such as forest management, animal health, and crop adaptation. The result was a comprehensive agricultural research infrastructure that now supports every major segment of Pennsylvania’s agricultural economy: dairy, poultry, horticulture, row crops, forestry, and food processing.

“We owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to the previous landowners, many of whom deeply valued the work of Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences and wanted their farms to remain devoted to agriculture,” said Jesse Darlington Jr., college facilities coordinator and manager for Penn State’s Ag Progress Days. “Over the years, I’ve watched our footprint grow because of their trust and commitment. That growth is essential. It expands the kinds of research we can conduct, strengthens our crop rotations, and creates more opportunities to collaborate with partners on innovative research programs that keep agriculture thriving.”

Building a Research Farm

Seventy-five years after Jordan first planted his fertility plots, Russell Larson, a professor of horticulture, began searching for land to grow Penn State’s farming capacity. His goal was to find fertile land near campus to grow fruits and vegetables. At the time, agricultural fields were being displaced by rapid campus expansion, forcing departments such as horticulture and agronomy to relocate their research farther out.

As the University grew after World War II, Penn State President Milton Eisenhower, the younger brother of U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, authorized Larson to secure new farmland, leading him to Rock Springs, in the Spruce Creek Valley near State College. There, after many visits and conversations, he acquired three farms from the Miller sisters between 1958 and 1965, gradually building a substantial foundation for future research.

The view from Tussey Mountain of a newly acquired farm at Rock Springs. Photographs courtesy of the Eberly Family Special Collections Library. 

Russell Larson surveys the site that will later become the Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center. Photographs courtesy of the Eberly Family Special Collections Library. 

Through the 1960s and 1970s, Larson—now dean—continued negotiating with neighboring farmers, many of whom were ready to retire, helping the University expand its holdings. Additional farms, including the Parsons, Gibboney, Kepler, Harper, and Peters farms, were added over several decades, ultimately creating a research site of more than 2,000 acres.

“During that post-war period, the college began leasing and purchasing the properties that would become our research and extension centers, placing them deliberately in key agricultural regions—Erie County for grapes, Adams County for tree fruit, and Lancaster County for intensive agronomic production,” said Gretta Tritch Roman, senior director of research development and initiatives for the college. “These locations enabled us to stay deeply connected to the industries we serve while maintaining strong ties to the central University. By the 1970s, that same spirit of strategic investment led to the purchase of land at Rock Springs. It’s a legacy of thoughtful planning that continues to strengthen our work across Pennsylvania agriculture.”

In 1990, the University formally dedicated the collection of farms at Rock Springs as the Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center. As research needs have evolved, the center has remained vital for field‑scale research, demonstrations, and extension programs. In interviews before his death in 2005, Larson credited the success of the endeavor to faculty collaboration and landowners who took pride in seeing their farms preserved for agricultural advancement.

“What makes Rock Springs so valuable is that growers can see real, tangible results, not just data from a lab, but outcomes tested under true field conditions,” Tritch Roman said. “It also gives our students authentic hands‑on experience. If you visit in the summer, you’ll find faculty, research technicians, and graduate students out there in their work clothes and boots, covered in dirt from a full day in the fields. It’s demanding, meaningful work, and it’s producing both the future of agriculture and the people committed to advancing it.”

On Common Ground

Today, the Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center drives innovation across nearly every aspect of food and farming. Researchers study crops, soils, insects, water, forestry, and advanced farming techniques to improve agricultural sustainability, productivity, and environmental health.

Specialized farms within the center support industry, state, and federally funded research in agronomy, entomology, horticulture, and plant pathology, enabling discoveries in pest management, crop resilience, soil conservation, and yield optimization.

The site plays an essential role in expanding hands-on learning opportunities for students, such as the recent addition of New Holland’s fully methane-powered tractor. The tractor—a New Holland T6.180 provided to the college through a partnership with CNH, a global leader in agricultural and construction equipment—enables students and researchers to gain hands-on experience with alternative energy technology and study its benefits for sustainable farming.

“These research centers also allow us to partner with private industry to showcase emerging technologies,” Gugino said. “We recently worked with CNH to bring in the methane‑powered tractor, which we’ve used at Rock Springs for conducting research as well as educational programs and extension events. It gives our team real hands‑on experience operating next‑generation equipment and provides valuable feedback to the company in return.”

Beyond research, the Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center serves a public-facing role, hosting events such as Ag Progress Days and educational field days that connect communities, students, government, and industry partners with the latest agricultural discoveries and innovations.

“Ag Progress Days is our premier agricultural showcase, not just for the college, but for the entire industry,” Darlington said. “We bring in more than 500 exhibitors demonstrating the latest innovations. It’s an opportunity for farmers to see cutting‑edge equipment, learn from our research, and connect directly with the people and programs that support their work. But it’s bigger than that—it’s a place where industry, farmers, the college, legislators, and even visitors with no agricultural background can come together. Everyone walks away with a clearer understanding of the role agriculture plays in our lives.”

Planning for the Future

While Ag Progress Days serves as a physical meeting ground to connect local communities with agriculture, the statewide network of labs and farms that make up the Agricultural Experiment Station is not a space that many Pennsylvanians visit. Yet the work carried out under its banner shapes the food they eat, the ecosystems they depend on, and the policies that govern agricultural resilience across the country.

In the hills of southcentral Pennsylvania, the Fruit Research and Extension Center in Biglerville operates as a strategically positioned outpost for agricultural research. Set on 180 acres in the state’s primary tree‑fruit
belt, the center serves as both a research hub and a gathering place where growers, consultants, and students can observe experiments under the same conditions farmers face in the field.

The center’s scientists need these site‑specific environments to test new horticultural practices. At the same time, extension specialists translate those findings for commercial use and relay growers’ concerns back to the researchers, creating what Tritch Roman describes as a continuous feedback loop between science and practice.

“The research and extension centers serve a great purpose in testing and demonstrating new technologies and practices,” she said. “We’re not only testing whether or not the return on investment is worthwhile but also helping to grow adoption of technologies by demonstrating them in real-world conditions.”

Nearly 300 miles to the northwest, along the Lake Erie shoreline, Penn State’s Agricultural Experiment Station maintains another specialized facility: the Lake Erie Regional Grape Research and Extension Center. The 40‑acre farm sits about 15 miles east of Erie in a landscape dominated by vineyards that supply both Pennsylvania's and New York’s grape‑processing industries.

At the vineyard, researchers cultivate 23 acres of Concord grapes and five acres of Niagara grapes, along with rows of wine and table grape varieties. This enables scientists to test new disease‑control strategies, evaluate cultural practices, and study how changing weather patterns influence perennial crops.

Since 2008, researchers at the site have been leading a multistate wine‑grape trial to assess the economic and wine‑quality potential of emerging cultivars across the eastern United States, a collaboration supported by the USDA Viticultural Consortium East. Nineteen varieties were planted at the research station to evaluate their potential as future leading regional wines. The center also participates in a longstanding partnership with Cornell University, whose own vineyard laboratory in Portland, New York, coordinates joint field days and educational programming for growers across the region.

The Southeast Agricultural Research and Extension Center, located in Lancaster County, is at the heart of Pennsylvania’s most intensive farming region. Because southeastern and southcentral Pennsylvania have a longer growing season, warmer temperatures, and higher humidity than the rest of the state, the center’s research is widely applicable across the mid-Atlantic.

Each year, the center supports more than 50 research projects, including testing varieties of corn, soybeans, small grains, and forages, as well as horticultural crops such as flowers, crabapples, strawberries, tomatoes, and pumpkins. Additional work focuses on pest management, cover crops, soil fertility, inoculants, and environmental stewardship, including efforts to reduce nonpoint-source pollution in the Chesapeake Bay.

The site also hosts Penn State’s long-running Flower Trials, which evaluate hundreds of annual and perennial cultivars for vigor, durability, and bloom quality—offering valuable insights for both commercial growers and home gardeners.

Moving forward, regional collaboration will be a key pillar in the University’s new Technologies for Agriculture and Living Systems, or TALiS, initiative, a college-led effort designed to accelerate innovation at the intersection of agriculture, natural ecosystems, and emerging technology.

“Through our TALiS initiative, we’re challenging ourselves to rethink what 21st‑century infrastructure for agricultural innovation should look like,”  Tritch Roman said. “It builds on our long history of supporting Pennsylvania’s agricultural industries, but it also pushes us to look ahead, asking what tools, facilities, and systems we haven’t yet created, and where we can do better to ensure that new technologies are truly useful, scalable, and future‑focused.”

She explained that TALiS provides a holistic framework for developing tools that boost food production while conserving forests, wetlands, waterways, and biodiversity. It positions the entire commonwealth as a living laboratory for testing integrated agroecological solutions.

The initiative is designed to support the full pipeline of innovation—from early‑stage research to real‑world field applications—by advancing robotics and automation, biotechnology, and monitoring, sensing, and prediction technologies.

“Our lodestar is the same as it’s always been: strengthen food systems, enhance environmental resilience, and stimulate economic growth across the commonwealth,” Tritch Roman said. “We’re continuing to leverage faculty expertise, foster industry partnerships, and invest in research infrastructure and workforce training.”

The land‑grant model was built on the premise that public education and scientific inquiry serve the national good. Pennsylvania’s Agricultural Experiment Station is one of its purest expressions, Gugino said, an institution created not for prestige or profit but for farmers, families, and the economic vitality of the commonwealth. The station is now part of a much larger network of land-grant university research institutions, called agInnovation, focused on research that can change the world.

“Our research and extension centers are brokers of trusted information,” Gugino said. “These centers offer a safe, neutral space where growers know they can rely on data‑driven, science‑backed guidance. More than 160 years after we started on the journey to support science-based agriculture, the college remains a vital partner to industry, a steward of public investment, and a testament to the enduring power of the land‑grant idea.”  

Apple orchards at the Fruit Research and Extension Center in Adams County. Photo: Penn State.

Grape fields at the Lake Erie Regional Grape Research and Extension Center, Erie County. Photo: Penn State.

Fusarium head scab research plots at the Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center in Centre County. Photo: Penn State.

Highlights

• 144 original research plots planted in 1881
• 280 active research projects statewide
• 250+ faculty researchers and extension specialists
• 2,200 acres across the Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center

Projects

Using Under-Trellis Groundcover Practices to Improve Profitability and Sustainability

Herbicide resistance is a growing concern in vineyards, prompting researchers at Penn State and the Lake Erie Regional Grape Research and Extension Center to explore alternative weed control methods.

Field trials tested cover crops with different grape varieties, checking for impacts on vine growth, yield, and fruit quality. Some combinations showed no competition nor negative effects, making them viable for vineyard use.

These results help growers reduce herbicide use, manage excessive vine growth, and adopt more sustainable practices while maintaining production and fruit quality.

Penn State Flower Trials Identify Hardiest Varieties

Greenhouse growers and plant breeders need reliable data on which flower varieties thrive in the mid-Atlantic. Penn State runs the region’s only university-managed flower trial, providing unbiased, research-based guidance.

At the Southeast Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Lancaster County, researchers test hundreds of annual and perennial varieties each year. Companies from across the U.S. and abroad submit plants for evaluation, with results—including performance data, photos, and detailed reports—made publicly available online.

The trials help the horticulture industry select top-performing varieties, saving money and boosting sales. With a 90-year history, the Penn State Flower Trials are nationally and internationally recognized for their high-quality, trusted testing.

FloraCount App Features the Most Pollinator-Friendly Plant Varieties

Many people want plants that support bees and butterflies. They may even be willing to pay a bit more, but it’s often unclear which plants are truly pollinator friendly.

Penn State researchers developed an easy-to-use phone app called FloraCount and tested it at the Flower Trials site at the Southeast Agricultural Research and Extension Center. The app measures how attractive plants are to bees, butterflies, flies, and other pollinators, while accounting for weather, sunlight, wind, and the surrounding landscape.

FloraCount has been tested by both experts and home gardeners, who have been able to collect reliable results. The next step is working with plant nurseries and garden centers to bring FloraCount’s pollinator-friendly labels to stores, helping shoppers choose plants that truly benefit pollinators

Tackling Fusarium Head Scab Through Variety and Treatment Testing 

Penn State researchers are working to understand and manage one of the top wheat diseases in Pennsylvania: Fusarium head scab, caused by the fungus Fusarium graminearum. This disease affects wheat and barley during flowering. It can reduce grain yield and contaminate grain with harmful vomitoxin. 

Scientists at Penn State are conducting integrated crop management trials, including at the Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center in Centre County, to evaluate wheat varieties for disease resistance. 

They also are studying fungicide treatments to identify products and timing that work best under different weather conditions and assessing toxin concentrations in grain samples. This information feeds into a national prediction model to help farmers decide when to spray against Fusarium head scab.

FloraCount App Features the Most Pollinator-Friendly Plant Varieties

Many people want plants that support bees and butterflies. They may even be willing to pay a bit more, but it’s often unclear which plants are truly pollinator friendly.

Penn State researchers developed an easy-to-use phone app called FloraCount and tested it at the Flower Trials site at the Southeast Agricultural Research and Extension Center. The app measures how attractive plants are to bees, butterflies, flies, and other pollinators, while accounting for weather, sunlight, wind, and the surrounding landscape.

FloraCount has been tested by both experts and home gardeners, who have been able to collect reliable results. The next step is working with plant nurseries and garden centers to bring FloraCount’s pollinator-friendly labels to stores, helping shoppers choose plants that truly benefit pollinators.

Timeline

• 1855
 Farmers' High School founded
• 1862 The Morrill Act establishes the land-grant college system; Pennsylvania receives 780,000 acres to support agricultural education.
• 1881 Chemist Whitman H. Jordan establishes 144 soil fertility plots near faculty cottages at Pennsylvania State College.
• 1887 Hatch Act creates federally funded agricultural experiment stations; Pennsylvania Agricultural 
Experiment Station officially established.
• 1889 Experiment station fully operational, conducting fertilizer trials, soil analyses, and crop experiments.
• 1914 Smith-Lever Act establishes Cooperative Extension, linking research and public outreach
• 1958-1965 Russell Larson acquires the first Rock Springs farms from the Miller sisters, creating the foundation of today's research center.
• 1960s-1970s Larson—now dean—continues negotiating with neighboring farmers, many of whom were ready to retire, helping the University expand its holdings. Additional farms, including the Parsons, Gibboney, Kepler, Harper, and Peters farms, were added over several decades, ultimately creating a research site of more than 2,000 acres.
• 1990 Rock Springs formally dedicated as the Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center.
• Today 
Since 1887, federal capacity funding, matched by Pennsylvania, has provided the stable support needed to keep the college agile in the face of emerging and future threats.

By Adrienne Berard

The Pennsylvania State University campuses are located on the original homelands of the Erie, Haudenosaunee (Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk, and Tuscarora), Lenape (Delaware Nation, Delaware Tribe, Stockbridge-Munsee), Monongahela, Shawnee (Absentee, Eastern, and Oklahoma), Susquehannock, and Wahzhazhe (Osage) Nations. As a land-grant institution, we acknowledge and honor the traditional caretakers of these lands and strive to understand and model their responsible stewardship. We also acknowledge the longer history of these lands and our place in that history.