A lot of interesting things happened 50 years ago.

For example, the first pictures of Earth from space were taken, the U.S. Grammy Music Awards started and the Barbie Doll was created.

Yet, for people who were making their livelihood on the farm in southwest Missouri, something far more important began.

On November 5, 1959, the Southwest Missouri Agricultural Research Center in Mt. Vernon, Mo., was formally dedicated.

The reason the Center, which is now called the University of Missouri Southwest Missouri Agricultural Research and Education Center, came to be, according to Superintendent Richard Crawford, was kind of unique.

“A group of agricultural producers got together in the ‘40s and were interested in agricultural research,” he explains. “By the ‘50s they got this one started.”

Crawford not only credits those producers but also State Representative Robert Ellis Young for the Center’s start.

According to Crawford, Young introduced legislation—House Bill 402, which passed and enabled the creation of an agricultural research center for southwest Missouri.

Then, House Bill 34 was passed providing $75,000 for the Board of Curators of the University of Missouri to purchase land for the Center.

When it was all said and done, Crawford says the Southwest Center was started with the idea of offering region-specific research to benefit southwest Missouri producers.

And the rest, as they say, is history!

A lot goes on in 50 years, especially when it comes to agricultural research.

“It is interesting how in research, some things stay, some go away, and then some come back full circle and we look at them again,” Crawford says.

He used grapes as an example.

“There was grape research going on in southwest Missouri in 1973. The Southwest Center had a variety test that was being conducted here,” Crawford explains.

After several years the grape project was dropped at the Center, only to be re-introduced in 2008, according to Crawford.

One of the areas of research that started at the Southwest Center, but has gone by the wayside, is crop research.

“At one time we had a lot of research projects with about every kind of row crop there was,” Crawford explains. “We had wheat and soybeans and even some short season corn growing at the Center.”

When it comes to region-specific research in southwest Missouri there are some definites. Those, according to Crawford, include beef, forage, dairy and horticulture.

“There has always been beef and forage research through many different focuses done at the Southwest Center,” Crawford explains.

According to him, grazing management research was being conducted at the Center as early as 1959.

“Today, we are still researching grazing management and the importance of growing and grazing the right forages,” he says.

Years ago, the Center was also very active in a fescue breeder program.

This, according to Crawford, is one of those projects that went away but has come back.

“This year we are doing fescue breeder research again. Basically we plant different varieties and observe how they work in this area.”

Programs like that have led to the introduction of a number of forage varieties, including, Missouri 96, HiMag, Martin and Mozark and even Justus Orchardgrass, which was named after former superintendent Norman Justus.

Going hand-in-hand with the forage research there was the beef research at the Center.

Although now there is a beef herd at the Center, at one time that was not the case.

“We used to not have a beef herd here,” Crawford says. “We would borrow stockers from cattlemen in the area to use in our research projects.”

According to him, everyone won. The cattle got the growth benefit and the Center got the research benefit.

In the early days, Crawford says the beef research was a tool to evaluate forages.

“To be truthful, the forage program drove the beef program here,” he explains.

Another component that has continued to be a mainstay is dairy research.

“At one time dairy was much more prevalent in southwest Missouri,” Crawford explains.

According to him, the dairy in recent years has been a very successful part of the Center.

“The pasture-based dairy research conducted here has been an outstanding success story,” he says.

The reason for its success, according to Crawford, is that there was a three-way partnership between Extension, research and producers.

“If any one of those parties were not present then there wouldn’t have been any success,” he explains.

In addition to the aforementioned research, horticulture and agroforestry have also been major programs at the Southwest Center.

“Horticulture here has literally gone from A to Z. Over the years we have researched everything from asparagus to zoysia,” Crawford says.

Even though research is done every day, once a year the Center opens its doors and research plots for the public to come and see what they are doing.

“The Southwest Center started hosting its Field Day in 1962,” Crawford explains. “This year was our 47th annual Field Day.”

Field Day, according to him, is the Center’s main opportunity to connect with the public.

“Field Day is our main outreach effort of the year, it gives us a chance to reach over 3,000 people in two days,” he explains. “The idea for a Field Day at the Center came from Norman Justus and he is who made Field Day what it is today.”

Crawford feels that everything done at the Center has a purpose.

“We are here for the people of Missouri,” he says. “Our goal is to do problem solving research to benefit agriculture in this part of the state.”

In the end, Crawford says that the Southwest Center is designed to take science from the laboratory and put it in the field.

Fifty years is a long time—or is it?

For Crawford, celebrating 50 years is a great accomplishment. However, he and his staff look forward to seeing what the next 50 years has in store for agriculture in southwest Missouri.

The University of Missouri Southwest Missouri Agricultural Research and Education Center would like to invite everyone to join them for their 50 year anniversary Open House which will be held December 3 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

The event will be hosted by Vice Chancellor and Dean Thomas L. Payne, Richard Crawford, superintendent, and the Southwest Center staff.

For those interested in attending, please RSVP Carla Rathmann by phone at (417) 466-2148, or by e-mail at rathmann@missouri.edu by November 30.