Plant Agriculture

Welcome to the Department of Plant Agriculture at the University of Guelph.

On behalf of our community of faculty, staff and students it is my pleasure to welcome you to the Department of Plant Agriculture, Canada’s largest and most diverse applied plant biology department. We are a research intensive department dedicated to teaching, research and service related to horticultural crops, turfgrass, landscape species and field crops and we provide hands-on learning opportunities from nationally and internationally recognized experts to students at the diploma, undergraduate and graduate levels.

• Consists of 34 faculty, 40 Staff, 60 Contract Staff, 110 Graduate Students
• The faculty includes Internationally recognized researchers in: plant breeding; agronomy; plant physiology; weed science; plant pathology; statistics/ bioinformatics; molecular genetics; plant tissue culture; turf management and bioproducts.
• The staff includes technicians and office professionals skilled in: plant breeding; agronomy; statistics; molecular genetics; tissue culture; biochemistry; chemical engineering; greenhouse management; turf management; and administration
• People are located in: 2 buildings at the Guelph campus (Bovey & Crop Science); Ridgetown campus, Simcoe Research Station, Vineland Research and Innovation Centre; Muck Research Station
• The largest research department at the University of Guelph (over $16M/y in research grants and contracts)
• Most inventive faculty in the University (disclosures/ faculty)
• Research Facilities: 17 Field stations (multiple soil types and heat unit zones, muck and mineral soils); Laboratories (molecular, genomics, bioinformatics, biomaterials, agronomy, plant physiology, biochemistry, pathology); Greenhouses (Guelph, two complexes including a greenhouse for GMOs, Simcoe, Vineland); Growth room facilities; Postharvest facility; Turfgrass Institute; Urban Organic Farm; Bioproducts Discovery and Development Centre; Gosling Research Institute for Plant Preservation)
• Students taught: 50 diploma; 2,000 undergraduate students in over 40 courses; 80 undergraduates in plant science majors; 110 graduate students (60 MSc, 50 PhD)
• Diploma teaching programs: Associate Diploma in Turfgrass Management; BSc(Agr) Honours Agriculture major; BSc(Agr) Crops, Horticulture and Turfgrass major, BSc(Agr) Crop, Organic Agriculture major; BSc Plant Science major,
• Undergrad teaching programs: BSc(Agr) Honours Agriculture major; BSc(Agr) Crops, Horticulture and Turfgrass major, BSc Plant Science major,
• Graduate teaching programs (thesis based): Plant Genetics and Breeding; Plant Physiology and Biochemistry; Crop Production Systems Bioproducts (pending)