The Virginia General Assembly established the Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station (VAES) on March 1, 1886, in anticipation of the Federal Hatch Act of 1887. This Act created a nationwide network of state agricultural experiment stations. Every state in the nation has an experiment station as part of the land-grant higher education system. This system links experiment station research to cooperative extension programs and college academic programs. The State Agricultural Experiment Stations (SAES) were charged with conducting research and development projects on behalf of farmers. Subsequent acts, including the Adams Act of 1906, the Purnell Act of 1925, and the Bankhead-Jones Act of 1935, increased federal appropriations to SAES. In 1946, the act authorizing the Regional Research Fund was signed. Today, 25 percent of the annual Hatch appropriation from Congress is earmarked as Multistate Research Funds. In 1962, the McIntire-Stennis Act was enacted to promote forestry research and graduate education. Animal Health and Disease research is a separate line item in the CSREES budget and must be approved by Congress each year.

Today, the research projects and activities of the VAES encompass the work of approximately 320 scientists in five colleges at Virginia Tech: Agriculture and Life Sciences; Natural Resources; Liberal Arts & Human Sciences; College of Science; and Veterinary Medicine. Thus, the VAES is not just one building on campus where experiments and laboratory work occur. Although the VAES main office and many of the research facilities are located on the main campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, the VAES research network also includes 13 field research stations located at various sites around the state. These field stations are known as Agricultural Research and Extension Centers (ARECs) and emphasize the close working relationships between the VAES and Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE). In fact, both organizations (VAES and VCE) function as one Agency with respect to Virginia Tech and the state government as well as with Virginia Tech's land-grant partner, Virginia State University. These three entities operate under a joint Plan of Work to the benefit of all the people of Virginia.