Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station provides centralized management and administrative support of several St. Paul campus research facilities including research plots and greenhouses. These resources are utilized by students, faculty, and staff from multiple UMN colleges for research, education and outreach.
If you are a UMN researcher or student looking for more information on utilizing the research resources on St. Paul campus, visit the MAES Intranet for more detailed information.
Campus Field Plots
The Twin Cities Campus in St. Paul features cropland dedicated to research, teaching and outreach activities. This land is divided into research plots and project areas and features a mix of both conventional and organic production systems. Crops grown in the plots include traditional Minnesota crops like corn, soybean, wheat, barley, and oats, as well as specialty crops, like kernza, canola, sunflower, and industrial hemp, and cover crops, like pennycress and camelina.
- Contact: Andrew Scobbie, [email protected]
- Field plot request form
Plant Growth Facilities Greenhouses
The St. Paul campus Plant Growth Facilities support a wide range of teaching and research projects, across multiple departments and colleges. The facilities include state-of-the-art greenhouses as well as specially designed classrooms that allow for plant research and education to take place year round. Projects supported by the facilities include aquaponics, plant breeding, disease resistance, insect control, organic production, and more.
- Contact: Ben Clasen, [email protected]
- Greenhouse space request form
Plant Growth Facilities Classrooms
The Plant Growth Facilities building is home to several classrooms that are used for courses and events. Priority for using the PGF classrooms is given first to courses which require instructional space, either lectures and/or laboratories, that need access to greenhouse plant materials.
Environmentally Controlled Growth Chambers
The MAES manages environmentally controlled growth chambers in locations across the St. Paul campus. The chambers are programmable and can sustain consistent environmental control for temperature, daylength, lighting intensity, etc. The capabilities of the chambers allow researchers to investigate plant growth and development of several plant species of interest from Arabidopsis to soybean.
- Growth chamber request form
- Contact: Doug Brinkman, [email protected]
Insect Quarantine Facility (BSL-2)
The BSL-2 is a federally permitted facility that was constructed in 2003 to provide research scientists with the necessary containment for research on economically and ecologically important exotic insects and weeds. The goal of this BSL-2 facility is to provide a secure environment for research consisting of exotic insects for biological control of noxious weeds and insect pests in Minnesota.
- For more information on how to start a project in the BSL-2, contact a Quarantine Officer at [email protected]
Plant Pathology Quarantine Facility (BSL-3)
The BSL-3 facility is a federally permitted facility that was constructed in 2008 to provide research scientists with the necessary high containment for research on economically and ecologically important exotic plant pathogens. The goal of this BSL-3 facility is to provide a secure environment for research on plant pathogens of agronomic and horticultural crops, nursery and forest industries without risk of introducing the pathogens into Minnesota. The BSL-3 is unique in that only a handful of these types of facilities exist in the United States.
- For more information on how to start a project in the BSL-3, contact a Quarantine Officer at [email protected]
Soil Testing and Research Analytical Laboratory
The Soil Testing & Research Analytical Laboratory (STRAL) is an analytical service laboratory providing Universities, State and Federal agencies, private companies, and the general public with quality analyses. With over 100 tests available, our goals are to provide a high level of analytical precision, quality, and accuracy, with timely results, to every client, for every sample tested.
- For more information on soil testing, visit the Soil Testing Laboratory website.
- For more complex, research-appropriate analyses and testing services, visit the Research Analytical Laboratory website.