A NSW Government website

Research & Development


As Australia’s largest and one of the oldest agricultural R&D providers, we undertake research across all primary industry sectors, environments and systems delivering meaningful impact to productivity, sustainability, biosecurity and food safety - improving yields, food security, sustainable production, and speed to market.


What we do

We are ranked in the top 1% of research institutes globally in the fields of agriculture, fisheries, forestry, biosecurity, environment, and ecology – we are a world leader in delivery of research explicitly relevant to sustainable primary industries. Combined with 21 locations across NSW, and relationships and networks that go deep into national and international knowledge circles, we influence outcomes that make a difference to prosperity and enhance opportunities.

We have been at the forefront of outcome-driven discovery for more than 130 years, delivering meaningful impact to biosecurity, traceability, and carbon technology advances improving food security, yields, sustainable productivity, and speed to market.

Our researchers have expertise across all primary industries and aquatic environments, all agro-ecological areas and marine bioregions throughout NSW, and the Murray-Darling Basin and across a range of R&D disciplines (pests, diseases, weeds, genetics, nutrition, ecology, fisheries, and more) to provide our collaborators and partners with the scale and diversity of research activities that they need to make an impact where it counts.

Top 1%

We are globally recognised as a top 1% plant, animal and environmental sciences research organisation.

$100m

We maintain a portfolio of $100m per year of research and development projects.

600+

Scientific and technical staff, along with 13,000ha of trial sites makes us the largest rural research provider in Australia.

Animals & Livestock research

We undertake high quality research and development into productivity, sustainability, emissions abatement, eating quality, value chain efficiency, animal welfare and nutrition to improve the productivity, profitability and sustainability of the livestock sector.

Biosecurity & Food Safety research

We have world-class diagnostic services and research facilities and leads research and development programs to improve our biosecurity outcomes.

Cropping & Horticulture research

Our crop and horticulture research develops and improves sustainable production systems and underpins effective market access through quality assurance systems that deliver consistently high quality and safe produce.

Soil and water research

Our soil research develops, assesses and promotes technologies and management systems that improve soil productivity. Our agricultural water research delivers services that increase water productivity and improve the resilience of water users across NSW agricultural industries.

Climate research

Climate research undertakes research and development to support evidence-based climate policy and on-farm practice change. We develop and use Agtech to support our research and adoption programs.

Fisheries research

Fisheries research provides scientific evidence to enable sustainable use and biodiversity conservation of the NSW marine estate and freshwater fish.

Forestry research

Forest Science provides evidence-based forest research services that underpin sustainable use of NSW’s native forests and productive plantations.

Working with us

Have a research idea? We invite you to partner with us and share our expertise, our unique locations throughout NSW, and our infrastructure, to solve some of the greatest challenges we face today.

Contact us to start working together

More about our Research & Development