History

50 Years of Research

Many fine people helped develop this research center. The land was donated to the University of Illinois by the late Senator H.G. Wright. The original planning began in 1945. Farm and seed organizations and many individuals joined in donating money for the buildings and physical facilities. Experimental work began in 1948.

Farm Foreman Richard Bell started on the farm in 1951 and Derreld Mulvaney, Area Agronomist in northern Illinois, began work with the Research Center at about the same time. Both of these individuals retired in 1983. Many of the ideas developed by them are now common practice on most northern Illinois farms.

Since the early days when only a few fertility and breeding trials were on the field, research has expanded, with more than 90% of the available land is in research trials covering many different aspects of crop production and protection.

The Research Center continues to welcome contributions. Many of these have been in the form of agricultural chemicals, fertilizer and seed. Some have also been cash, equipment or additional building facilities. The most recent building gifts were the shop and machinery addition structure donated by the DeKalb County Farm Bureau in 1988, a 3500 bushel grain bin donated by Lou Faivre in 1990 and a 3500 bushel bin donated by Jim Hart in 1996.

The Northern Illinois Agronomy Research Center has an "Open Door" policy. We encourage visits to the center and will host special group tours. Several hundred people visit the center each year during field days, tours and individual visits.

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