Hired in 1916 as South Dakota Extension Service鈥檚 first agricultural engineer, Ralph Patty took an ancient construction method, scientifically studied it to benefit the farmers of South Dakota and in turn influenced rammed earth architecture world-wide. Beginning in the 1920s, Patty conducted research on rammed earth construction at South Dakota State University to improve poultry barns. The high humidity within poultry barns was causing the birds to die from pneumonia in the winter. Patty built a wood barn, a concrete barn and a rammed earth barn. The only turkeys that survived that winter were the turkeys in the rammed earth building. The building allowed the moisture to transfer out while maintaining a constant temperature.