Research

Our work is challenge-focused and impact-driven.

Solutions Start Here

Just as plants are integral to a wide breadth of our daily lives, from agriculture and climate change to energy and human health, so too must the plant sciences be dynamic and interdisciplinary in order to solve the grand challenges of our time. The plant sciences require the collaborative effort of great minds across all disciplines, approaching applied research through bold curiosity, academic barrier-breaking, multi-sector partnerships and technological innovation.

Increasing yields
Creating new varieties
Extending growing seasons
Enhancing agricultural and environmental sustainability
Producing new and improved technology

Preparing farms to keep pace with a fast-moving future to help ensure a healthier, well-fed world.

3 Research Platforms:

Anna Stepanova and a researcher in a growth chamber

Research Programs

Interdisciplinary research teams address plant improvement, data-driven plant science and resilient agricultural systems.

Research Facilities

Top-notch research facilities provide a direct competitive advantage for our innovative research.

Enabling next-generation science

Research Expertise

Our faculty have diverse and complimentary research expertise to tackle agriculture’s grand challenges.

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Commercialization

We help entrepreneurs get great ideas to market.

Where startups get their start

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Thriving Together

Connecting the brightest minds in academia, government and industry to drive vital research and innovation.

Explore a Partnership

Giving Symbiosis Back to the Brassicas

Heike Sederoff and her team are trying to understanding the symbiotic relationship between certain plants and the fungi and bacteria in the soil so they might some day return that lost relationship to the brassicas.

New Software Boosts Accuracy of Tech to Measure Crop Health

A new tool improves the accuracy of electronic devices that measure the color of a plant’s leaves to assess health.

a woman and a man stand in a field of green crops

NC State a Partner on NSF-Funded “Ag Tech Corridor” Project

A $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation is kickstarting an effort to create an agricultural technology corridor from central to eastern North Carolina, and NC State University plays a key role.

The Strategic Triad

The partnership of N.C. PSI, Plants for Human Health Institute and NC Food Innovation Lab is what the PSI is all about. This collaboration of government, academia, and industry aims to overcome the challenges associated with successful food production and healthier human consumption.

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