History of ARS at Mississippi State Location ARS research at the
Mississippi State Location was under way in the 1950’s or
earlier with 3 or 4 ARS scientists working in forages and corn.
These early scientists, called agricultural agents, were housed
in Mississippi State University facilities. In 1961 a great
expansion of research and construction began with the building
of the ARS Boll Weevil Research Laboratory and the addition of
about 10 young ARS scientists in multiple disciplines working as
a team under the direction of Dr. T. B. Davich. Their mission
was to develop technology to eradicate the boll weevil from the
US. They succeeded, and the boll weevil is now eradicated in
states east of the Mississippi River and eradication is underway
in states west of the river. By the late 1970’s eradication
technology was proven and many boll weevil scientists expanded
their research to new research areas. Since the beginning of the
expansion in 1961, ARS has continued to grow in number of
scientists and breadth o