a short history of agricultural education and research

Ever wondered when your local agricultural college wasfounded?Ever asked yourself where veterinary science is or hasbeen taught?Or precisely where research on hops, potatoes or flatfish was carried out?Look no further. This is not an academic work. It is merely meant to provide signposts tosome key and interesting features in the development of agricultural education andresearch in the UK - essentially a chronological listing for quick reference or a startingpoint for further investigation.Where there are major developments from an original point, there may be two entries, onefollowing through from the earliest date of the founding organisation and one under thenew date. Where a body has simply developed or had name changes, the life story of theorganisation will flow down from the earliest date. For example the Scottish AgriculturalCollege is listed under 1990, when it was formed but can also been see under entries in1887, 1901 and 1904 to whence the three constituent colleges (the West of ScotlandAgricultural College , the Edinburgh and East of Scotland Agricultural College and theNorth of Scotland Agricultural College) can trace their histories, and then follows throughwith a 2012 listing for the Scottish Rural University College.For universities, I have listed them under what I believe to be the earliest knownagricultural activity taking place at a given institution and have simply included a few keypoints. Again, the complications of mergers, the gaining and losing of autonomy andname changes can make the picture murky.An additional complication is to decide what is agriculture : horticulture, botany,zoology, entomology, mycology and more have been included, as relating to productionagriculture, but many related disciplines have largely been omitted - for example, forestry.And what is ‘education and research’? It has been interpreted in its widest sense taking inschools, colleges, universities and research institutes but also through to the other bodieswith an educational function, accredited or otherwise, such as agricultural societies,Young Farmers Clubs and the Women’s Institute, which have played such important roles.Books, journals and reports of influence are, of course, too numerous for comprehensivecoverage. There is, however, the inclusion of a few key publications, particularly in theearlier years, where the work was particularly ground-breaking or the author was soinfluential as to demand acknowledgement in a collation such as this. And some of the7