Celebrating 100 years of service to the rural community this year, Yanco Agricultural Institute will formally mark the centenary with Open Days on the October long weekend.

"Visitors will be able to view photo displays of past eras and to catch up with old acquaintances," Institute manager, George Stevens, said.

"Bus and walking tours will feature historic sites and highlight current research and educational facilities.

"The centenary will be recorded by the unveiling of a commemorative plaque and planting of a time capsule."

The Institute has been run variously by the Departments of Agriculture, Child Welfare and Army, but throughout its life has continued to conduct agricultural research and educate farmers.

The NSW Department of Agriculture Institute founded the Yanco Experiment Farm in 1908 on 323 acres of North Yanko Station bought from Sir Samuel McCaughey.

The first crops of barley, oats and wheat were sown in July 1908, along with lucerne, grapes, nuts, fruit and olive trees.

Date palms along the main driveway today were planted as a variety experiment and are the source of many of the palm trees now growing around Yanco and Leeton.

Early research was conducted on fruit trees, vegetables, lucerne, pastures, fodder and green manure crops, cereals, rice, maize, potatoes, and ostriches for feather production.

The farm also had a fruit canning plant, drying racks for processing fruit, a pure bred dairy herd, a stud piggery, and breeding programs for horses and mules.

Irrigation water initially came from the Murrumbidgee River via Sir Samuel McCaughey’s irrigation channels until the "turning on" of the water to the MIA in 1912.

Flood and spray were used on 200 irrigable acres.

In 1928 the property became the Riverina Welfare Farm, transferred to the Child Welfare Department.

It operated as a training institution for young first offenders, accommodating 128, many of them homeless or orphans who were taught farm and life skills, including animal husbandry, milking, horticulture, farming, cooking and baking.

In 1942 the property became Prisoner Of War Camp 15, which eventually held more than 750 Italian internees and POWs, who provided the labour for one of the largest vegetable production units in Australia, delivering large quantities of canned and dried vegetables under contract to Leeton Cannery for the armed services.

In 1944 the emphasis changed to tomatoes and beans seed production for the Commonwealth Department of Agriculture for distribution around Australia.

About 850 acres of vegetables were produced under irrigation, the major crops including beans, peas, corn, silverbeet, lettuce, onions, and tomatoes.

Wheat, oats, pastures, lucerne and sorghum were produced for hay and silage. There were also 50 acres of apples, oranges, pears, olives and dried fruit.

In 1948 the property was handed back to the Department of Agriculture and again became the Yanco Experiment Farm with a new focus to conduct scientific research on horticultural and field crops, especially rice, and on dairying and lamb production under irrigation.

All rice varieties used by farmers in Australia were bred at Yanco.

Renamed Yanco Agricultural Research Station in 1961 it continued to conduct world class research.

Farmer education has continued since the earliest days.

In 1913 students aged between 16 and 20 paid £15 ($30) for the first year and the second year was free if their work and conduct was satisfactory.

Yanco Agricultural College started in 1963, offering full time residential training in agriculture, became Murrumbidgee College of Agriculture in 1980, in 2003 was restructured to become the Murrumbidgee Rural Studies Centre and is now a campus of Tocal, providing short courses for farmers and the community.