The Northern Lab developed one of the first industrialized production techniques for penicillin. This development was led by Andrew J. Moyer. This and other early scientific accomplishments set a standard of research excellence at NCAUR, generating global and enduring impact and consistently bringing credit to the United States Department of Agriculture and its Agricultural Research Service. The late agricultural researcher Dr. Ed Bagley, who had been a professor at Washington University in St. Louis before coming to Peoria, was involved in finding new and better ways to improve the removal of carcinogens (and the discontinuation of their use) from corn and soy crops. Another example of their work is the development of soybeans from a small forage/rotation crop to the second largest and most valuable row crop in the U.S.