Agriculture is the basis of food security. In the coming decades, research in the agricultural sciences will be characterised simultaneously by the demand for a sufficient food supply for a growing population and concern for climate change. The strain on nature, the sufficiency of natural resources, biodiversity loss, energy shortages and changes in diets pose challenges to the sustainability of the food production and consumption system.
We are tasked with conducting research, teaching and public engagement pertaining to agricultural and horticultural plant production, domestic animal production as well as related technical solutions and environmental effects. Our primary research areas include agrotechnology, plant production sciences, animal science as well as environmental soil science. We are responsible for university-level bachelor’s and master’s education in the agricultural sciences in Finland.
Agrotechnology is focused on sustainable production solutions and innovations in agriculture, automation and measuring techniques, as well as environmental technology. Examples of research fields in the plant production sciences include the sustainability of production, crop science, genomics, breeding, plant conservation and the environmental effects of agriculture. Animal science focuses on the study of nutrition, physiology, welfare, genomics and breeding. Environmental soil science focuses on soil processes, interaction between soil, plants, water and air, as well as environmental risks.
Our multidisciplinary research aims to promote basic agricultural research and to expand the common ground between basic and applied research. Our research is internationally distinguished and high quality, as well as domestically important, since it benefits agriculture and horticulture, and related livelihoods.