United States. Bureau of Plant Industry

The Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) formed in 1901 as a major consolidation of several independent units that all had in common the research of plant and crop science. The BPI had a major focus on doing its experimentation on farms. For its first forty years, the main research center for BPI was the Arlington (Virginia) Experimental farm. In addidition, the bureau investigated problems related to crop pests, and it also provided instruction programs for farmers around the country. Other major areas of research included seeds, plant disease and pathology, and breeding. The BPI had come together as a collection of research divisions, and continued to maintain and expand these. There were divisions for such areas as botany, fiber plants, plant exploration and introduction, tobacco, cereal crops, and mycology. The BPI was placed under the Agricultural Research Administration in 1942, and was merged with engineering research functions of the Bureau of Agriculture Chemistry and Engineering to form the Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering (BPISAE). The BPISAE was abolished in 1953 with the reorganization of the USDA. In 1972, the functions that had once belonged to the BPI were transferred to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)