History

This center was established in 1934 on about 5,100 acres of unglaciated Ozark Uplift land (primarily Fragiudalfs and Fluventic Haplaquepts) near Simpson in Pope County, and was operated until 1985 as a a sub-station of the Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station. During this half-century of operation, agronomic work involving soil fertility, soil management, conservation and crop production was a major part of it's mission.

The concept of no-till (or 0-till, zero-till) planting was developed there in the late 1950's by Professor George E. McKibben. A reorganization plan that went into effect in 1985 assigned the land, equipment and personnel to academic units within the Colleges of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences and and Veterinary Medicine, with local coordination being provided by a Management Committee made up of professionals of the five academic units represented there.

The Crop Sciences component is now made up of approximately 750 acres of land, 50 of which is University owned, 174 is leased private property (to accommodate the use of pesticides), and the remainder being operated under a Special Use Permit from the U.S. Forest Service.  The Crop Sciences operation has been managed by Dr. Steve Ebelhar since 1985.

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