Over a Century of Progress
AFES
PAST
PRESENT
FUTURE
In the beginning...
In 1862, Morrill Act authorized
establishment of Land-Grant Universities
In 1878, Mississippi Legislature established
Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical
College
In 1880, General
Stephen D. Lee
became the first
president of the
Mississippi A & M
College, now
Mississippi State
University
Stephen D. Lee
President of A & M College
(1880-1898)
Stephen D. Lee
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Ordered first shot fired on Fort Sumter
100 battlefields testifyto his courage and genius
Graduate of West Point
First President of MSU
Father of Industrial Education in the South
Required education and manual labor together
Warned Mississippians to learn science of agriculture
or land would be owned by others
• MS supplied every other Southern state with trained
teachers in agronomy, horticulture and chemistry
• Years ahead of his time, he set the pace for industrial
development
March 2, 1887 - The system was
launched by U.S. Congress by
passage of the Hatch Act
January 31, 1888 - Mississippi Legislature
established the State Agricultural Experiment
Station to be located at the A and M College
near Starkville
Agricultural and Mechanical College in 1890
Director Samuel Tracey’s
first staff was a total of 11 general agriculturalists,
horticulturists, chemists,
a veterinarian,
a meteorologist, and
a treasurer
Samuel Tracy
MAFES Director (1888-1897)
Class of 1900
First budget $15,000 all in federal funds
What is unique about Experiment Station
Research?
Targeted
Mission Driven
Stakeholder Involvement
Partnerships
USDA-ARS
Early experiments included
simple crop rotations and use
of manure on fields sapped by
years of cotton
25 cotton and 44 corn
varieties were evaluated in 1889
and an statewide outbreak of
charbon (anthrax) in mules was
helped by the station
veterinarian
Three to four station bulletins
were issued annually on subjects
such as cotton worm control,
livestock feeding, and fruits and
vegetables
Excellent butter and cheese was
produced from the station’s
cows and three new barns were
constructed for $1000
Edam cheese mold (from Holland)
ordered by F.H. Herzer in 1938
300 cheese were made first year
and more than 117,000 in 1999
By 1890, off campus research was located at
Lake, Holly Springs, and Ocean Springs
Some of the early equipment used
1900 - Working force numbered about the
same as initially and legislature established first
branch experiment station at McNeill with $6500
per year for 2 years
Other branches went into operation at Stoneville
and Holly Springs, Natchez, Raymond and
Crystal Springs
In the
first 13 years,
97 bulletins
issued
Farmers’
Institutes
had increased
to were
200 annually
the state was eradicating Texas fever ticks
As the years passed, research continued on how
to build good roads, agricultural products were
being sold, and fees were imposed for some
services
Names such as E.R. Lloyd,
J.R. Ricks, Clarence Dorman,
Tait Butler, A.B. McKay
were the scientists and
leaders of the day
Lloyd-Ricks
A.B. McKay
NOW
THEN
Dorman Hall
At the end of World War I, the staff had
increased to 40
Woodrow Wilson, 28th President (1913-1921)
First in the nation to conduct
research in home economics,
Dorothy Dickens published on
the food habits of
Mississippians in 1927 and
“Market Basket of Wisdom”
appeared in 1929
Dorothy Dickens
Agriculture expansion changed
to agricultural policy
Herbert Hoover
31st President (1929-1933)
During the first 40 years the
generalists were enhanced by
specialists such as botanists,
physicists, etc.
Venus Flytrap
Prism
MSU President
Humphrey’s
biennial report to
the college board in
June 1942...
President Humphrey
At the end of World War II, the “unbelievably
large contributions” that the experiment station
made to agriculture despite the shortages of men
and supplies were recognized by state and federal
government
General Eisenhower and President Harry
Truman working in the Oval Office, 1945
In mid 1940’s
William B. Andrews
William Baker
Andrews and Felix
Edwards pioneered
use of anhydrous
ammonia as fertilizer
Felix Edwards
1 st Production Model
International Harvester cotton picker,
Delta Station, 1944
Late 1940’s Legislature establishes
5 branch experiment stations
Cooperation with the teaching programs
coupled with research and science
provided by the experiment station
resulted in the authorization of the first
Ph.D. programs at MSU in 1951
State’s First Ph.D.’s
The first Ph.D. was
awarded in 1953 in
Agronomy, 21 of the first
25, 75% of the first 50,
and 65% of the first 100
were graduate students of
experiment station
scientists
President Ben Hilbun congratulated the first
two recipients of the Ph.D. from Mississippi
State College
Principal Research contributions to
Agricultural Aviation
Delta Boeing 767
Examples of Notable Advances in Last Forty Years
Soybean
Catfish
Cotton
Engineering
Rice
In 1968, recognition of excellent immunology
research, resulted in the only NSF-funded
building on campus
Hill Poultry Science Building
Edgar Hartwig
Soybean Breeder
USDA, ARS
1948-1996
29 varieties
Average Yearly Economic Impact of DES
Cotton on Mississippi Economy $41,000,000
Impact of Fast Fruiting, EarlyMaturing Cotton Cultivars on the
Economy of Mississippi
DES Genetic material is in
95% of Midsouth Cotton
Cultivars
• Fast-fruiting
• Early-maturing
• DES genes in background
Bob Bridge
1997 On Farm Variety Tests
Two Year Average
Milled Head Rice Yield
Lb/Acre
4,800
4,612
4,600
4,400
4,200
4,226 4,190
4,064
4,141
4,000
3,724
3,800
3,600
3,400
3,672
3,603 3,575
Jackson
LaGrue
Drew
Litton
Lemont
Cypress
Priscilla
Jefferson
Kaybonnet
Variety
Engineering
In 1974
Legislature created
College of Veterinary
Medicine
MAFES established
a service unit named
MAFES Remote Sensing
Center
Seed Production & Conditioning
MO Role and Use
on Soybeans
Marshall Ryegrass
Backgrounding
Programs for Cattle
Development of
New Industry
Percent Water Surface Acres
in Catfish Production - Jan 1999
Other
6%
AL
12%
MS
59%
AR
15%
LA 8%
Visionary Leadership
Senator Thad Cochran
Dr. Verner G. Hurt
MAFES Director (1987-1996)
Thad Cochran National Warmwater Aquaculture Center
In 1994, Forest and Wildlife Research Center
was authorized
Thompson Hall
MAFES has made
significant investment
in biotechnology
for over
20 years
Examples of successes from MAFES
New methods to add
genes to soybeans &
add soy protein to
yogurt
14 Patents, 5 Provisional,
17 Licenses, and 3 in
discussion
Catfish
vaccine
development
An insect resistance gene isolated from corn
Keys to Early Successes
• Visionary Leaders
• Strategic Partnerships
• Stakeholder Input
• Dedicated Employees
Keys to Future Successes
• Balanced Portfolio
• Leveraged Resources
• Enhanced Partnerships
• Resource Accountability
• Development and Use of Technology
• Systems Research