The Arizona Agricultural Experiment Station supports a network of research activities and applications that occur on the campus and at nine Agricultural Centers located across the state. The research program consists of 700+ employees, located in 9 departments, the School of Natural Resources, The Norton School of Family and Consumer Sciences, and the Office of Arid Land Studies and the outlying Centers with a total budget of approximately $76 million including federal and state appropriations and grants/contracts.The Arizona Experiment Station has more than 200 ongoing formal research projects. These represent a continuum, from fundamental research on the structure and function of genes to integrative research that develops fundamental discoveries into targeted practices and technologies, to adaptive research that applies the findings to actual production, processing, marketing and environmental systems. Research is conducted in the areas of the environment and natural resources; animal and plant systems; family, youth and community; trade and economics; and human nutrition, food safety and health. Arizona presents unique challenges and opportunities. The hot, arid environment limits the type of crops that can be grown in the summer but also provides an ideal environment for vegetable production in the winter. It also supports the production of desert adapted crops such as guayule and hesperaloe which will soon become viable alternative crops in the desert southwest.