America’s oldest test plots prepare for their next chapter. Story and Photos by Katie Knapp “No sir we don’t mess around, our library’s underground. ‘Cause you can’t throw shade on the corn.” These words finish the chorus of the University of Illinois a cappella group The Other Guys’ famous song about a corn field in […]
March 9, 2026 | Kylie Corral and Claire Benjamin When Bayer’s Crop Science division Head of R&D Mike Graham returns to campus this week, he’ll be looking ahead to the future of agricultural innovation and the enduring value of land-grant research. Graham will join College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences Dean Germán Bollero for a fireside chat at […]
The Morrow Plots, famed in song and story, represent the oldest continuously running agricultural experiment in North America, and are the second oldest in the world. And this year, they turn 150.
October 3, 2025 | Pamela Smith writing for Progressive Farmer A 1-acre field of Flanagan silt loam located in the heart of the University of Illinois’ Champaign-Urbana campus is proof research can have a long arm. Since 1876, the Morrow Plots have continuously provided insights on soil health, crop rotation and other aspects of agricultural […]
A gift from Bayer’s Crop Science division will support the revitalization of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s Morrow Plots, the oldest experimental agricultural fields in North America.
May 24, 2023 | Jude Panlilio writing for The Daily Illini When one thinks of iconic campus locations around the University, students typically consider the photogenic Main Quad or Alma Mater as contenders — the nondescript plots of farmland across from the Main Library might not be the first thing that comes to mind. The […]
In 1876, when University of Illinois professor Manly Miles established the Morrow Plots, he couldn’t have imagined the plots would become the oldest continuous agricultural experiment in the Western Hemisphere. Nor could he imagine, more than a century before the dawn of the internet, that the plots’ data would be digitized and made available online to scientists, students, and educators around the world.
Here’s what the oldest continuous experimental crop research field in the Western Hemisphere, founded in 1876, means for Illinois agriculture in 2023.
Editor’s Note: This content (circa April 2003) originally appeared on an Agronomy Day webpage, which was rediscovered through the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine. We appreciate any information to help us properly credit this history, which is one of the most complete found to date. The Morrow Plots, which are located in the heart of the […]