To Order

What you probably notice first at the West Central Research and Outreach Center is the horticultural research garden—an engaging showpiece that combines research and education in an aesthetically pleasing display garden, recently expanded to include an interactive fun and informative children’s area. Thousands of visitors from across the region visit the garden every year.

The horticulture areas at the Center have become a destination for visitors who enjoy the display of flowers, ornamental grasses, trees and shrubs. Loop trails with interpretive stops begin here.

Swine research in alternative housing facilities focus both on low cost, sustainable, and conventional production systems.

Dairy, swine and crop production are the other research mainstays at WCROC. Today, environmental and socio-economic issues of rural Minnesota are also on the research agenda, encompassing studies of renewable energy, water quality, and changing spending patterns in rural communities.

Comparing Alternative and Traditional

The location, facilities, and faculty enable the WCROC to be a national leader in evaluating alternative and conventional animal production systems. Dairy cows and heifers are compared under confinement systems and on pasture. Swine behavior and nutrition are compared in alternative and traditional housing systems. Odor control, using a low-cost bio-filter system in the swine nursery, is proving successful as visitors linger in the display gardens downwind from 1,000 hogs.

Soybeans are a major crop in this part of Minnesota, and the Center’s research helps guide best management practices.

Crop production research focuses on emerging needs such as scab in smallgrains and white mold and iron chlorosis in soybeans as well as evaluating herbicides, production systems and variety development. Other studies include forage crops such as kura clover and birdsfoot trefoil, and better management for the production of hay and forage.

The scope of agricultural research at the Center is impressive. Small grains research includes testing new varieties as well as control of scab, a major disease of wheat and barley.

Making Ecologically Sound Decisions

Protecting water quality and developing agricultural systems that are both economically and ecologically sound are central goals of environmental management research at Morris. This research emphasizes both livestock and crop production systems. One product of this work is a phosphorus index that sets standards for the entire state. The phosphorus index sets guidelines that will sustain both agriculture and the quality of Minnesota’s rivers and lakes.

Erosion control studies aim to reduce agricultural impacts on water quality.

Explorations in renewable and sustainable energy systems are ongoing and will provide valuable links between research conducted on the St. Paul campus, a developing renewable energy industry, and the communities and citizens in rural Minnesota.

Renewable Energy Center Offers Unique Opportunity

Rural and agricultural resources such as wind, biomass, and biofuels could provide renewable energy options to the nation, if efficient, cost-effective systems can be developed. The University of Minnesota Renewable Energy Research and Demonstration Center at the WCROC is a community scale, research and demonstration center that focuses on wind, biomass, biofuels, anaerobic digestion, and renewable hydrogen. Its goal is to provide a model for rural communities and agricultural producers to integrate renewable energy systems into their economies. Another goal is to establish systems research to provide information to stimulate the renewable energy industry.

WCROC Competitive Niches

• Developing economical and environmentally sound agricultural production systems with emphasis on protecting water quality



• Focus on renewable and sustainable animal and crop production systems



• Showcase for U of M horticultural trials



• Partnerships with a broad cross-section of the region’s citizens, from producers to consumers of agricultural products



• Comparative studies of alternative and traditional animal production practices



• Home of the U of M Renewable Energy Research and Demonstration Center



• Research on socioeconomic issues in rural Minnesota