Hancock Agricultural Research Station

The Hancock Experimental Research Station is a 412-acre vegetable crop research farm. Field trials at the Station are related to potatoes, field corn, sweet corn, soybeans, snap beans, carrots, cucumbers and switchgrass. It is also home to the Wisconsin Potato & Vegetable Storage Research Facility.

There are events scheduled throughout the growing season. In 2014 this will include: Wisconsin Potato & Vegetable Growers Association Field Day Tour, AR Albert and Villetta Hawley-Albert Horticulture Garden Open House, Midwest Food Processor Association Field Day, and Potato Variety Harvest Expo.

Background

Research began at the Station in 1916 by the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences on land belonging to the Hancock Development Company. The intent of the research was to aid general livestock farmers in their attempt to make a living on the droughty sands of Central Wisconsin. Six years later the Board of Regents purchased 95 acres from this private company, and by 1934 they acquired two more adjacent parcels to bring the farm to 223 acres. Research efforts for the next 20 years were directed towards dairy feeding, pasture utilization, soil fertility management, and studies with coniferous and deciduous shelterbelt plantings for wind erosion control.

In the late 1940s irrigation became possible with the availability of aluminum pipe and the discovery of abundant and accessible groundwater. Irrigation redirected the college’s research efforts. Studies began to reveal two to four fold increases in crop productivity when irrigation was used. Seventy acres were added to the station in 1962 to aid in irrigation research, provide low fertility land, and help offset acreage lost by US Highway 51 relocation.

In 1971 the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences acquired an adjacent 120 acres. This purchase came with an irrigation well and was soon after equipped with center pivot irrigation. The research data generated at the Station by the college faculty has had a major impact on the agricultural development of the Central Sands of Wisconsin.

Source: The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System (copyright)