Message from the Dean
Welcome to the UT AgResearch website!
Agriculture is the largest industry in the state of Tennessee and contributes approximately $74.8 billion (11 percent) to the state’s economy each year. The agricultural industry also provides approximately 357,000 jobs for our state. With more than 10.8 million acres of farmland, research has been and will continue to be the engine that drives our agricultural enterprise. Our cutting-edge research is used to train the next generation of agriculture professionals and the scientific innovations are disseminated to our end users for life-improving applications.
As the world population continues to grow (projected 9.8 billion by 2050), so does the demand for our farmers to produce more food, fiber, and fuel with fewer resources while also minimizing their impact on the environment. Established in 1882, the Tennessee Agricultural Experiment Station, now AgResearch, has a proven track record of success for the past 137-plus years. Our ten AgResearch and Education Centers strategically located across the state provide the real-world settings for our faculty, graduate students, and other specialized professionals to conduct mission-oriented research and innovation. Our dedicated faculty and staff are committed to finding solutions to improve the lives of people in Tennessee and beyond.
Today AgResearch continues to broaden our research horizons as agriculture moves into a new era. We have started working on new transformational research initiatives in areas such as agricultural synthetic biology, plant and animal genomics, One Health, and smart agriculture. We tackle these grand challenges through collaborations with multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary teams made up of public and private partners across the campus, the state, the nation, and the globe.
Hongwei Xin, Dean and Director
Our Mission
"UT AgResearch advances science in agriculture and food systems, natural resource management, and family and consumer sciences."
We do this through the discovery of new knowledge, the innovation of these discoveries into new products and processes, and the application of these innovations to enhance the lives of citizens of Tennessee and the world.
