Bulletin No. 294 - Research Aids Utah Agriculture: Biennial Report Utah Agriculture Experiment Station 1938 - 1940

The foundation of progress in agriculture as in any other industry is research. Research has resulted in knowledge now daily applied in soil treatment, in irrigation practices, in dealing with insect pests, in breeding new varieties of plants, in animal improvement, in better farm practices, and in better land-use planning. Research undertaken by the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station has been outlined to solve specific problems facing Utah agriculture, among them the problems of irrigation, dry farming, range management and animal production. The prosperity of the state is dependent upon the success of these agricultural enterprises. Agricultural research should not, therefore, be considered a luxury marked for elimination, or materially decreased support, every time the state or nation is faced with an emergency. The progress of research is necessarily slow. Experiments must be carried over a period of years before definite conclusions can be drawn. On the average, it is about 8 years before a successful research project attains the profit stage. Moreover, its success may be based on fundamental discoveries that were a half century or longer in development. Therefore, the report of the results of two years\u27 work does not contain much that is startling, although it does contain findings that should aid Utah agriculture in solving many of the troubling problems with which it has to contend