System-wide averages may mask significant differences across individual institutions. Forestry schools are, of course, focused on forest resources research; and veterinary medicine schools are predominately conducting animals research. Among the 1862s there are some differences that make good geographic sense, but the few states that have allocations significantly different than the average are exceptions.

Alaska's experiment station, for example, invests more in natural resources research than in animal research; Connecticut invests more in food science and human nutrition than in crops; and Vermont invests more in food and nutrition than in animals. Rhode Island puts more research money into natural resources than either crops or animals research; and West Virginia puts more into both forest and natural resources research than into crops. Cornell U. spreads research dollars more evenly than many others, but the three program groups that receive the most—crops, animals, and natural resources—are the same as the average top three (and the Geneva AES devotes most of its research to crops) (see Appendix Table 4).