The granja will serve an experiment station for their company, Coteron y Compañia, for propagation, experimentation and cultivation of their cash crops especially in tobacco.

On November 15, 1881, with the creation of La Comision Agronomica de Filipinas, it took over the operations of granja and appointed its first director, Don Jose Alemany Penalva.

Due to the insufficient and poor condition of the land, on March 20, 1885, the Spanish government transferred the granja from San Isidro, Nueva Ecija to the foothills of Mt.

The granja was transformed into a full agricultural experiment station equipped with school and staff buildings, animal pens, sugar mill, alcohol distillery and weather observatory.

The station was headed by a director (equivalent to agricultural engineer), assisted by an ayundante de montes and a perito agricola, who were all Spaniards.

The granja offered two programs; the first and most important was a three-year sequence in farm management, leading to the title of perito agricola.

The candidates who wanted this title had to demonstrate the possession of suitable secondary-level schooling in geometry, trigonometry, drawing physics, and chemistry, prior to entrance.

The other program, which conferred the title of capataz de cultivo, concerned itself with the preparation of field foremen and livestock supervisors.

The granja has a variety of breeds of animals such as buffaloes, cattle, wild pigs, goats, horses, chickens, ducks and doves.

La Granja was devoted to the cultivation and experimentation of wheat, sorghum, sesame, rice, corn, indigo, tobacco, peanuts, potatoes, sugarcane and alfalfa.

(La Granja Modelo won the award together with famous Filipinos such as Juan Luna who won the same award for his masterpiece, Una Mestiza; Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo, gold medal awardee for his masterpiece, La Barca de Aqueronte; and the father of Filipino socialism, Isabelo de los Reyes, silver medal awardee for his selection, Folklore Filipina.)

On January 23, 1894, it won the silver medal award from Exposicion Regional de Filipinas in the field of cross breeding of Arabian horses, exhibition of different rice varieties and different types of farm equipment.