The College of Agronomy and Biotechnology traces its roots back to the Department of Agronomy at Yunnan University’s College of Agriculture, founded in 1938, making it the oldest academic unit of Yunnan Agricultural University.

The College currently comprises four departments: the Department of Crop Science, the Department of Crop Genetics and Breeding, the Department of Biotechnology and Plant Physiology & Biochemistry, and the Department of Chinese Medicinal Material and Plant Science. It hosts one national research platform— National & Local Joint Engineering Research Center on Germplasms Innovation & Utilization of Chinese Medicinal Materials in Southwest China —and two provincial innovation teams: the Yunnan Agricultural University Plateau and Mountainous Crop Sustainable Production System Innovation Team, and the Yunnan Agricultural University Medicinal Plant Synthetic Biology Innovation Team.

It also includes seven provincial-level research platforms, such as the Key Research Laboratory for Under-forest Medicinal Plant Green Development under the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the Yunnan Key Laboratory of Medicinal Plant Biology, the Yunnan Key Laboratory of Crop Production and Smart Agriculture, the Yunnan Laboratory for Characteristic Plant Extracts, and key laboratories for hybrid japonica rice molecular breeding, edible fungi resource research and utilization, and crop germplasm innovation and sustainable utilization.

Additionally, there are nine provincial and university-level research centers, including the Yunnan Hybrid Rice Research Center, Hybrid Japonica Rice Engineering Technology Research Center, Tuber Crop Molecular Breeding and Seed Breeding Engineering Research Center, Standardized Cultivation Engineering Research Center for Dominant Medicinal Plants, F. delavayi GAP Engineering Technology Research Center, Technical Guidance Center for Standardized Cultivation of Medicinal Plants, and the Crop Science Teaching Demonstration Center. Yunnan Agricultural University also houses the Characteristic Minor Crop Research Center and the Functional Microbial Fertilizer Development Research Center.

The College operates six research institutes (Rice, Sugarcane, Tuber Crops, Konjac, Medicinal Plants, and Edible Fungi) and one experimental teaching farm. Furthermore, it has established four academician workstations (for Academicians Cheng Shunhe, Guan Chunyun, Song Bao’an, and Zhang Hongcheng) and manages three provincial-level germplasm repositories for sugarcane, tuber crops, and rice in Kunming.

The College employs 89 faculty and staff members, including 30 full professors and 27 associate professors. 88.8% of faculty members hold a master’s degree or higher. Among them are 23 doctoral supervisors (including external advisors) and 69 master’s supervisors. Distinguished personnel include two recipients of the State Council Special Allowance, two experts from the National Modern Agricultural Industry Technology System, two Yunling Scholars, one chief scientist advisor and seven post experts from the Yunnan Modern Agricultural Industry System, four provincial-level distinguished or stipend experts, four provincial teaching excellence awardees, 11 provincial academic leaders and reserve talents, and three provincial technological innovation talents. A group of doctoral and master’s degree holders and visiting scholars trained in countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and the Netherlands now form the backbone of the College’s teaching and research activities.

The College offers three Yunnan provincial key disciplines: Crop Science (first-level, designated as a provincial priority and featured discipline), Crop Genetics and Breeding (second-level, classified as a B-category first-class discipline), and Crop Cultivation and Tillage Science (second-level). It holds one doctoral program in the first-level discipline of Crop Science, with three research directions: Crop Genetics and Breeding, Crop Cultivation and Tillage Science, and Smart Agriculture. It also offers two first-level academic master’s programs in Crop Science and Biology; six second-level academic master’s programs in Crop Cultivation and Tillage, Crop Genetics and Breeding, Botany, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Medicinal Plant Resources, and Biology; and two professional master’s programs in Agronomy and Seed Industry, and Biotechnology and Engineering.

The College currently has six undergraduate majors: Agronomy (a nationally featured specialty, provincial brand major, and national first-class major), Biotechnology (nationally featured, provincial key major, and national first-class major), Seed Science and Engineering (provincially emerging major and first-class major), Medicinal Plant Cultivation and Identification (provincial first-class major), Smart Agriculture, and Medicinal Plant Resources and Development. It has a total enrollment of 1,886 students, including 1,499 undergraduates, 306 master’s students, and 81 doctoral candidates.

The College prioritizes talent cultivation, with a strong emphasis on comprehensive student development. Leveraging its robust faculty and advanced research and teaching infrastructure, it continues to enhance its curricula, teaching methodologies, and learning outcomes. The College emphasizes practical training and encourages both in-class and extracurricular scientific and cultural engagement. Students are encouraged to think critically, innovate boldly, participate in faculty research projects, and engage in social practices—aiming to develop highly skilled, broadly knowledgeable, adaptable, and morally grounded talents with strong practical and innovative abilities, aligned with the national and regional socioeconomic needs, particularly in frontier ethnic areas.

Faculty members have long been committed to both teaching and scientific research. Over the past five years, the College has undertaken 115 research projects at national and provincial levels, with total funding reaching 135.7 million yuan—of which 51 were national-level projects, accounting for 44.34%. Faculty members have received six provincial or ministerial awards, including two Special Prizes and one First Prize for Science and Technology Progress in Yunnan. Over 350 academic papers have been published, including 88 indexed in SCI journals, with high-impact publications in journals such as Nature Communications, Molecular Plant, and Plant Biotechnology Journal. The College has secured 82 patents and software copyrights, registered 55 new plant varieties, revised three local standards, and achieved two applied outcomes. Significant advancements have been made in research on high-quality and high-yield hybrid rice, tuber crops, wheat, corn, sugarcane, medicinal plants, rapeseed, and minor crops.

Committed to serving local economic development through academic strength, the College actively engages in initiatives such as the "Three Areas Services" and "Hybrid Rice Dryland Cultivation for Rural Revitalization" programs. Professors and doctoral researchers are regularly deployed to support grain security and economic development in Yunnan.

The College also takes full advantage of Yunnan’s geographical location by establishing broad international cooperation with institutions such as the University of Wolverhampton (UK), RiceTec Inc. (USA), Kagoshima University (Japan), Yeungnam University (South Korea), Kasetsart University (Thailand), the South Rio Grande Rice Institute (Brazil), the International Rice Research Institute (Philippines), and universities and research institutions in Pakistan, Indonesia, Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos, among others. These collaborations have yielded positive outcomes in scientific research, academic exchange, student training, and technical capacity building, and have laid a strong foundation for the College’s active participation in China’s “Belt and Road Initiative” and Yunnan’s strategic outreach to South and Southeast Asia.