Cotton was king in 1930s Oklahoma, where farmers were especially thankful to the Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station on campus for releasing a new cotton seed variety known as Oklahoma Triumph 44, which helped the crop better survive the drought conditions and pests, such as boll weevils. 

Experiment station researchers also helped farmers save money by notifying them that cottonseed meal could be used as an inexpensive source of high quality feed for cattle.

Agricultural students at Oklahoma A&M College understood the importance of the crop and had long been taught how to judge cotton's quality (photo from the early 1900s).

In 1937, the college's agronomy department established the Oklahoma Wheat Improvement Program, which played a significant role in increasing the quality and number of acres of wheat that farmers planted.