The Institute was founded in 1930 through a benefaction from one of Canada's Scottish sons, Dr T.B. Macaulay, of the Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada. His aim was to improve the productivity of Scottish agriculture.

Dr Macaulay was a descendent of the Macaulays from the Outer Hebridean Isle of Lewis, Scotland. He was true to his Hebridean roots throughout his life, often giving large donations to Lewis, which funded various projects including a new library and a new wing at Lewis hospital.

An album of posters (5MB pdf) or individual posters (5MB pdf) detailing our history is available.

Recent History

The Institute in its current form was founded in April 1987 by the merger of the Macaulay Institute for Soil Research and the Hill Farming Research Organisation.

It was established to carry out research in support of the agricultural industry, taking account of the interaction between the industry and other land users, and set in the context of the environmental objectives of the UK Government and the European Union.