Tom Shanower Center Director USDA-ARS-NPA Grain Marketing & Production Research Center 1515 College Avenue, Room 269 Manhattan KS 66502 (785) 776-2701

GMPRC is one of more than 100 research facilities administered by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) . Located in Manhattan, GMPRC is the only USDA research laboratory in Kansas. We are ideally situated in the heart of the Great Plains, a 13 state region that produces more than two-thirds of all U.S. wheat, corn, sorghum and soybeans. Our location, near Kansas State University, also provides excellent collaborative research opportunities.

GMPRC has a long history. USDA-funded scientists have been working in Manhattan, Kansas since 1919 when cereal pathologist C.O. Johnston was first stationed here. USDA plant breeders came on-board in the 1920s and 30s. In 1935, entomologists investigating stored product insect pests came to Manhattan as part of the Midwest Grain Insects Investigation Unit. The Dust Bowl events of the mid-1930s led to the establishment of the federally-funded High Plains Wind Erosion Laboratory at Kansas State University in 1947. The various USDA scientists were eventually consolidated into the Grain Marketing and Production Research Center, and in 1969 a new research facility was constructed on a 12 acre site near the Kansas State University campus. The facility, which recently completed a modernization project, continues house most of the Manhattan-based USDA research programs.

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GMPRC has a staff of approximately 85 federal employees, including more than 30 scientists. Each of our four Research Units has a unique mission, interacts with customers and stakeholders, and contributes to one or more ARS National Programs . The Engineering and Wind Erosion Research Unit is developing tools and knowledge to sort and handle grain, and to model wind-caused soil erosion. The  Grain Quality and Structure Research Unit  is investigating the relationships between grain chemistry and end-product quality for wheat and sorghum. The Plant Science and Entomology Research Unit studies hard winter wheat genetics, focusing on the discovery and use of genes with resistance to insect, disease and other factors. The Stored Product Insect Research Unit researches stored product insect pests, their genomes, biology, ecology and management