Montana's Agricultural Experiment Station (MAES) has faculty and supporting staff conducting research and outreach programs addressing crop and animal production methods, market growth opportunities, pest management and environmental quality issues. MAES has seven off-campus Research Centers and local campus farms that address production and production challenges in the diverse agro-ecosystems of the state. Collectively, MSU’s campus farms and seven-off campus Research Centers plus faculty on the MSU-Bozeman campus constitute the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station (MAES) and the MSU College of Agriculture. As such, MSU effectively considers the entire state of Montana as its "campus." MAES and the statewide Research Centers provide the foundation upon which the research and teaching missions of the university stay relevant to needs of agriculture in the state of Montana.

Our Mission

As a land grant institution, Montana State University provides education, research, and extension/outreach programs focused to meet the changing needs of Montana. The College of Agriculture and the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station generate and disseminate superior knowledge and technological solutions to increase the competitiveness of communities capturing value from Montana's agricultural and natural resources, preserve environmental quality, and improve the quality of life for all our citizens.

  • Land Grant Mission: teach agriculture, military tactics, and the mechanical arts (now engineering) as well as classical studies, so that members of the working classes could obtain a liberal, practical education.
  • Foundational component of the original land grant college created in Bozeman in 1893.
  • Conducts research focused on state, regional and national issues on the Bozeman campus, local campus farms, and at seven Research Centers throughout the State of Montana.
  • Federal/State Partnership in funding and programmatic input.
    • Federal funding from USDA-National Institute for Food and Agriculture for Hatch, Multi-state and Animal Health base funds which must be matched 1:1 by the State.
    • Montana provides the majority of MAES funds, considering MAES a state agency within the Montana University System.
    • Research program goals and objectives integrate federal and state priorities.
  • MAES activities are comprehensively integrated with the College of Agriculture and MSU teaching, research, and service functions.
  • MAES’s goals address agricultural, natural resource, environmental, policy, and societal issues as defined by the departments organized across research areas that complement teaching and outreach functions.
  • MAES Advisory Council assists the Ag Experiment Station with programming and goals.