In 1909, when this forage crop field station was situated 6 mi. northeast, the United States' first sudan grass was planted here, a sorghum especially adaptable to semiarid regions. The United States Department of Agriculture had brought the seed from Khartum, Africa. More than a half-century of sorghum breeding followed under the supervision of A. B. Conner, J. R. Quinby, J. C. Stephens, and other scientists, culminating in hybrid seed for more productive crops that revolutionized the agriculture of the Great Plains.