About us

The mission of the Institute of Agricultural Sciences

The Institute of Agricultural Sciences is the platform for research and teaching in agricultural science at ETH Zurich. Its tasks in the agricultural research today and in future can no longer be solved by a disciplinary agricultural approach or a purely natural science-based methods. Agricultural production systems are closely interrelated to other systems and are highly complex. The demand by the public with respect to food availability and quality on one side and to the sustainable use of resources on the other is creating a variety of new and complex questions which can only be answered by interdisciplinary approaches. The underlying concept is realized in the “World Food System”.

In order to solve these tasks, excellent graduates are required with a solid disciplinary basis and a comprehensive understanding of the manifold relationships occurring within production systems and between these systems and the environment. The close contact between basic plant biology and crops and livestock research allows designing innovative solutions to actual and future problems.

In summary:

It is the mission of the institute,

1. to understand plants, animals and the organisms interacting with them from the molecular to the ecosystem level,

2. to investigate agroecosystems in their diversity, their response to changing environmental factors and their effects on the environment,

3. to use results from fundamental research to contribute to the development of sustainable agriculture,

4. to foster by excellent teaching and education the future competences in plant, animal and agroecoystem sciences.