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UConn Plant Science Research Farm has a classroom, three greenhouses totalling 5500 sq. ft., and approximately 100 acres devoted to small plot research and teaching projects in plant and soil science. Over twenty faculty and their graduate students use this facility for their research and teaching efforts. During the school year, classes from the Department of Plant Science as well as the Ratcliffe Hicks School of Agriculture, the Department of Natural Resources, and the College of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology meet here to obtain hands-on training in both the scientific and practical aspects of agriculture.
Ongoing soil science projects include a comparison of the effects of soil tillage versus no tillage using field corn (a project started in 1969), reducing nitrogen use in agronomic and horticultural crops by examining available soil nitrogen at times of crop need, and researching pesticide and fertilizers that have potential to leach through the soil profile by catching rainfall percolate in collection pans below the root zones of field crops.
Research projects in floriculture and ornamental horticulture include studies with herbaceous ornamental plants used for cut flower production, trials for alstroemeria culitvars, and mountain laurel studies. The farm also houses the Burr Teaching Nursery.