HR0989 104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0989 LRB104 22486 ECR 38931 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of Representative wish to congratulate the University of Illinois on the occasion of the 150-year anniversary of the creation of the Morrow Plots; and

WHEREAS, The Morrow Plots started in 1876 as an experimental crop field to study if Midwestern soils required fertilizer or if simple crop rotation was sufficient for soil nutrient retention and stewardship, becoming the nation's oldest research field and one of the oldest continual agricultural research fields, second only to England's Rothamsted Field; and

WHEREAS, The Morrow Plots' establishment can be attributed to a collection of three talented agricultural researchers, agricultural chemist Charles Wallace Silver, Agriculture Professor Manly Miles, and Professor and Chair of Agriculture George Espy Morrow; and

WHEREAS, The Morrow Plots were named after Professor Morrow, the first dean of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, after publishing the findings of a long-term corn study, known as the Experiment 23 Rotation Study, that he inherited from Professor Miles in 1888; and

WHEREAS, The Morrow Plots were initially ten half-acre fields designed to test how cropping methods affected soil health and productivity over time; as the University of Illinois expanded, two plots were removed from the study in 1895 and used for construction purposes, five other plots were returned to grasslands in 1903, and the remaining three plots were reduced in size and subdivided into the profile that is now familiar to the campus; and

WHEREAS, The Morrow Plots were designated a National Historic Landmark in 1968 in recognition of both the scientific and symbolic impact of the plots on their 100-year anniversary; and

WHEREAS, The Morrow Plots occupy a unique space on the ACES campus as both a place of scientific study and cultural prominence, reinforcing that agriculture is cyclical; and

WHEREAS, The Morrow Plots' purpose remains dedicated to the advancement of agricultural knowledge to better support responsible land stewardship and enhancement of the public good; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we congratulate the University of Illinois on the 150-year anniversary of the establishment of the Morrow Plots; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to Dr. Andrew Margenot, Director of the Morrow Plots, as an expression of our esteem and respect.