About Us

The Northwest Research and Outreach Center (NWROC), formerly the Northwest Experiment Station, was founded in 1895, the result of land donated to the State of Minnesota by James J. Hill. This original tract of land totaled 476 acres. In 1905, a school of agriculture was added and operated in conjunction with the Station until 1968, when it became what it is today, the University of Minnesota, Crookston. Then in 1999, the Northwest Experiment Station changed its name to become the Northwest Research & Outreach Center.

Agriculture and agricultural processing are the main sources of income and employment in northwest Minnesota.  The agriculture of the region is diverse and is characterized by very large crop production operations on the flat, rich soils of the Red River Valley on the western half of the region, to diversified crop and livestock enterprises on the eastern half. Annual precipitation for the region ranges from 16 to 22 inches with less than one half of one percent of the area having irrigation potential for crop production.

Northwest Minnesota leads the State in the production of wheat, flax, sunflower, sugar beet, potato, dry edible beans and in the production of specialty crops such as annual canary grass, buckwheat, mustard, canola, bluegrass and timothy seed production. Receipts from the sale of these and other agricultural crops ranks northwest Minnesota as No. 1 gross farm income from crop production in the State.  This region also ranks high in the production of and number of cow-calf operations and borders the major dairy regions of Minnesota.

The research and educational programs of the Research & Outreach Center are thus focused on these agricultural commodities and enterprises, to help ensure economic survival, that is environmentally sound, and to assist in economic development as it relates to value added processing of current agricultural products and to the introduction and culture of new crops or livestock species for the region.