Shafter Research Station is an agricultural research station in Shafter in the San Joaquin Valley, within Kern County, California. The station, which was established in 1922, as Shafter Cotton Research Station,and was used by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to research cotton. Initial research at the station focused on growing long-staple cotton, Egyptian Pima Cotton, which was used to make airplane wings at the time. The US Hatch Act of 1887 provided US funding of agricultural science. The Shafter Cotton Research Station was built to provide California with high quality cotton.