There’s a sample of Missouri soil sitting in the Smithsonian Institution.
The soil sample, taken in 1945, contains an actinobacteria — Streptomyces aureofaciens — used to develop an antibiotic similar to penicillin. Aureomycin was used to treat illnesses including typhus and Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
The antibiotic was used until the 1980s, when bacteria began developing a resistance to it, although it is still used to treat disease in animals.
That discovery is one of many that came from Sanborn Field — just over three acres used for agricultural research near Rollins Street and College Avenue.
On Tuesday, the MU College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources celebrated Sanborn Field’s 130th anniversary with an event at Eckles Hall.
Sanborn Field has a long history of nationally recognized research. Tim Reinbott, assistant director of the Agricultural Experiment Station, which runs Sanborn, said 21st-century practices are being implemented on 19th- century fields there.
In 130 years, the research at Sanborn Field has developed some of the best practices for farming.
"When you go out to Sanborn Field and Duley-Miller (Erosion Plots), you walk where giants walk," Reinbott said during the ceremony.
Sanborn Field was founded in 1888 by J.W. Sanborn, a former CAFNR dean, to study crop rotation and the effect of fertilizers on crop production. One plot has native prairie species that grew before Missouri was settled; it’s still used as a control for research. Nine plots from Sanborn’s original study remain in use.
Parts of the field are frozen in time for agricultural research. Some plots have never been treated with herbicide. Some crops have been harvested only by hand or small tractors, and these restrictions have led to research that reduces the cost of food for average consumers, Reinbott said.
"This is really the basis of how our food is grown," he said.
During Tuesday's birthday party, faculty and former superintendents of Sanford Field talked about past breakthroughs and current projects.
Randy Miles, who retired in January after 20 years as the director of Sanborn Field, spoke about its history.
Sanborn began his research on the field to find out why plots would become less and less productive after being plowed and planted with domesticated plants. His findings led to new practices for crop rotation, Miles said. The research would evolve over the years and focus on soil changes and crop performance.
Miles also shared an anecdote about former Missouri football coach Gary Pinkel.
"I got a note from his staff a few years ago because they love the weather station there, and they used that on game days to strategize on kicking," Miles said.
Tuesday's celebration also marked the 101st anniversary of the Duley-Miller Erosion Plots. Professor emeritus Clark Gantzer presented the history of soil erosion research and the creation of the plots.
It began when Rensselaer Wright McClure, an undergraduate student, asked professor M.F. Miller how much runoff would accumulate after a rainstorm. When he found dirt in his collection barrel, Miller told him to measure it. This was the first in a series of experiments to quantify runoff and soil erosion, which led to the Duley-Miller Erosion Plots.
The research inspired 10 USDA erosion experiment stations and was used to develop the universal soil loss equation, which estimates soil erosion under various cultural practices, Gantzer said.
Those in attendance used the occasion to remember their colleagues as well as the research.
Gary Wyman, the research specialist at Sanborn from 1988 to 1992, said he worked with the best people around, including professor emeritus C.M. Woodruff. Woodruff was a soils professor and, Wyman added, a genius.
"There is no doubt that I earned a Ph.D. from listening to him," Wyman said.
He added that several of the students he worked with would go on to take his job as the research specialist.
"I worked with fine, fine, fine people," Wyman said.
For all of the research Sanborn Field and the Duley-Miller Erosion Plots have produced, their importance has sometimes been challenged. Reinbott said he’s been in meetings where people question Sanborn Field’s value to the university.
"Someone said Sanborn sticks out like a sore thumb," Reinbott said. “We gotta change that mentality.”
The field sits on prime land for construction, he added, and those who want to sell it say researchers have had 130 years to learn what they can.
Reinbott, who lived across the street in Hatch Hall when he was an MU student, strongly disagrees.
"The concept of healthy soil, healthy plants, healthy people is as important as ever," he said.