Akron, Colorado
June 6, 2007
ARS News Service
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
Linda Tokarz, (301) 504-1658,
linda.tokarz@ars.usda.gov
A U.S. Department of Agriculture research facility that has
helped farmers thrive in the harsh climate of the Central Great
Plains celebrated its 100th anniversary here today. The Central
Great Plains Research Station is part of the Agricultural
Research Service (ARS), USDA's chief intramural scientific
research agency.
"The Akron station has played a vital role in helping farmers
adapt to the challenges they face in this part of the country,"
said ARS Administrator Edward B. Knipling. "Over the last
century, Akron has been a great example of how scientists and
farmers can work together to improve production while protecting
the environment."
The first settlers to cross into the region were ill-prepared
for the dry and windy climate, variable temperatures and
occasionally damaging precipitation. The land wasn't suited to
the crops and management practices that worked on farmland to
the east. Thus, early attempts at cultivating the Central Great
Plains met with poor results.
In 1907, the "Akron Field Station" was established by the USDA
in cooperation with Colorado State University to identify
optimal agricultural management techniques for the region, an
area of about 55 million acres comprising parts of Nebraska,
Kansas, Wyoming and Colorado. The community donated land for
research and raised $3,000 to construct the buildings. The
investment proved to be a wise one.
During the past century, the station's experiments have
identified the crops best suited to the region, such as winter
wheat, sorghum, millet, corn, triticale and sunflower. In
addition, researchers found that ponderosa pine and Rocky
Mountain juniper made the best shelterbelts to reduce erosion.
Akron scientists also have helped improve yields of several
crops, including winter wheat, by as much as 50 percent and have
developed water-management techniques for maximizing crop
growth.
Scientists at Akron have released new cereal varieties and
developed water-harvesting techniques for reducing soil damage.
They were also influential in pioneering conservation management
techniques such as no-till, eco-fallow and stubble-mulch. The
research station joined the then newly formed ARS in 1953.
Researchers are currently developing sustainable crop-rotation
systems for cultivated drylands, semiarid croplands, rangelands
and irrigated lands. |
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