Research

The Faculty has an excellent international reputation for its research, attracting substantial external funding and a strong cohort of postgraduate research students. Infrastructure to support research includes facilities for: plant growth in controlled environments; extensive farm and field sites; physical, chemical and biochemical analyses of plants, plant and food products, soil, and water; molecular biology and biotechnology; soil assessment and mapping; soil microbiology and soil-borne disease analysis; rural information systems and GIS; postharvest horticulture; microscopy and imaging.

Major research strengths are in plant improvement, plant biotechnology, plant disease, cereal science, soil science, precision agriculture and agricultural economics, whereas research in post-harvest horticulture, biophysical modelling, monitoring and remediation of land and water resources, land-use policy in developing countries, and resource economics are considered to be areas of emerging strength.

The Faculty has several research centres – the Plant Breeding Institute with campuses at Cobbitty and Narrabri, the Australian Centre for Precision Agriculture, the Sydney University Nitrogen Fixation Centre, and the Centre for Salinity Assessment and Management - and has a major involvement in CRCs associated with the cotton, wheat and pork industries.

The Faculty enjoys excellent collaborative relationships with CSIRO, NSW Departments of Primary Industries and Natural Resources. It values its extensive links with industry and maintains a strong presence in the rural and agribusiness sector through student excursions, professional experience placements, and research links to rural groups.

The Faculty has a long and successful history of international relationships and continues to play a major role in international agricultural research funded through the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research and AusAID. Recent international projects have involved collaborations with Vietnam, China, Indonesia, Cambodia, Papua New Guinea, Thailand, Fiji, Tonga and Brazil.