The Hatch Act of 1887 established the Agricultural Experiment Station. This act required all of the colleges established under the Morrill Act of 1862 to establish a department to be known as an "Agricultural Experiment Station." This station was to acquire and diffuse practical and useful information on topics related to agriculture for the people of the United States. The promotion of scientific investigation and experimentation was also a requirement of the act. An annual report was to be provided from all stations and periodic bulletins or reports of progress were to be distributed. Federal funds were provided for this venture, and in 1887, Dakota Agricultural College, as South Dakota State University was then known, established its Agricultural Experiment Station along these guidelines.

Today, much of the Agricultural Experiment Station research is done at Brookings, however, a considerable amount is conducted at six field stations and at the West River Agricultural Research and Extension Center at Rapid City. Field stations are maintained to conduct research designed to solve local or special-purpose problems. Beyond this, research on farms and ranches, in wildlife areas, in streams and reservoirs, and with cooperating businesses and institutions results in research being conducted in nearly every county of the state. / The research function of the College of Agriculture and Biological Sciences results from carefully designed experiments providing a base of new knowledge and service to the citizens of South Dakota. This new knowledge is effectively used by farmers, ranchers, homemakers, industry, in the campus classroom, and in extension education programs throughout the state.

Research may be grouped in the following subject matter areas: livestock, crops and soils, community and public affairs, animal health, fertilizers, garden and orchard, home and consumer, water resources and irrigation, forestry, insects, farm machinery, marketing, business management, farm buildings, pollution, range and grass, fisheries, plant diseases, wildlife, sociology, and biostress in plants, animals, and humans. Research is financed by state and federal appropriations, industry grants, and federal and state grants. Research results are published in Experiment Station or Extension bulletins, journals of scientific societies, and a quarterly publication, Farm and Home Research.