The act of Congress that created agricultural experiment stations at universities across the nation, known as the Hatch Act of 1887, was memorialized in a Western Farm Press article published today.

Many stations founded under the Hatch Act later became the foundation for state cooperative extension services under the Smith-Lever Act of 1914. In the Hatch Act, Agricultural Experiment Stations were charged with conducting original research on plants and animals, diseases to which they are subject, feed composition, potential new crops, soil and water analysis and more.

According to a Oklahoma State Web site, quoted in the story, "Breakthroughs...