In 1815 Rural Economy was introduced as an independent class within the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. The classes were originally meant for students who would later become preacher-farmers and needed such knowledge. Prof. J.A. Uilkens was the first professor of this subject. He built up a collection of demonstration models relating to Agricultural Machinery Studies.
The class disappeared from the university in 1871, but in 1842 the Rural Economy School in Groningen opened, teaching the forerunner of Agricultural Education.
The University Museum still has a few demonstration models from education in Rural Economy, such as a crane, the Archimedes Screw, an “overtoom” for lifting a ship from one body of water to another and a pile driver.
