Agricultural Research Council - South Africa

The Agricultural Research Council is a premier science institution that conducts research with partners, develops human capital and fosters innovation to support and develop the agricultural sector.

Core business subjects

Animal Sciences: Aims to improve the productivity, production, competitiveness and sustainability of livestock based agriculture, to enhance the productive use and conservation of natural resources and to translate research results to support agrarian transformation and the efficiency and competitiveness of the agricultural sector in South Africa. The organisation engages in Animal Health. Animal Production and Aquaculture.

Crop Sciences: Improvement and cultivation of various crops to benefit not only biodiversity but also counter malnutrition and improve food security and soil fertility.  

Agricultural Economics and Capacity Development: Responsible for translating the ARC's research results into useable outputs in support of agrarian transformation and the efficiency and competitiveness of the sector.   This is achieved through analysis of research activity in order to allow the ARC to exploit its IP, maximise utilization of R&D outputs and transfer technology to farmers and agribusiness.

Research and Innovation Systems: Agricultural Engineering, Biotechnology, Natural Resource Management, Climate Smart Agriculture, Informatics, Biometry and Knowledge Management Systems. The RIS Division provides collaborative and support functions to a wide range of technologies in areas such as genomics, phenomics, remote sensing, agricultural systems modelling and engineering systems.​