Search
- Home
- Sites
- Our Offices
- Research Stations
- Hill Farm Research Station
- Features
- About the Station
- About The Hill Farm Research Station
The Hill Farm Research Station is located in Claiborne Parish in northern Louisiana about 4 miles south of Homer. The facility is one of 17 research stations operated by the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center through its research division, the Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station. For directions to the Hill Farm, click on directions.
The establishment of the Hill Farm was authorized by Act No. 127 of the 1946 Louisiana Legislature, and it was designated the North Louisiana Hill Farm Experiment Station. According to the 1946 legislative act, the Hill Farm was established "for the purpose of conducting experiments to determine and develop the most economically suitable agricultural, livestock and tree crop practices for the North Louisiana Hill Farm Section."The original purchase of land was made in August 1947, when 983 acres were acquired. The land area expanded several times in the early years. In 1948, the Claiborne Parish Police Jury donated 140 acres. Additional land purchases, made in the mid-1950s (119 acres), the late 1960s (91 acres) and the early 1970s (155 acres), brought the station to its present total of 1,488 acres. A group of pictures and documents related to the history of the Hill Farm can be found by clicking on the history link.
Initial research was undertaken on row crops (chiefly cotton and corn), horticultural crops, forestry, dairy, and poultry. As the agriculture of the area changed, so have the research programs of the station. Today, the station’s research and extension programs emphasize the most abundant and economically significant agricultural commodities of northwestern Louisiana of poultry, beef cattle, and forestry.Northwest Louisiana accounts for approximately 70%, 50%, and 35% of the state’s poultry, forestry, and beef cattle revenues, respectively.All of the station’s programs have received local, national, and international recognition. William Owens serves as the station’s coordinator.