The Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences (SAAS) – 山东省农业科学院 is a comprehensive public welfare provincial agricultural research institution directly under the provincial government. The academy’s research history dates back to 1903 and it officially became the Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences in 1959. Currently, it has 11 departments and 21 research institutes, along with a postdoctoral research station. SAAS employs 2,012 people, including 904 senior professionals and technicians, and 810 PhDs.
The academy’s primary research areas include grain and economic crops, fruit trees, vegetables, livestock and poultry, sericulture, resources and environment, plant protection, agricultural product quality and safety, deep processing of agricultural products, agricultural microorganisms, biotechnology, information and remote sensing technology, agricultural machinery, nutrition and health, agricultural robotics, and flower genetic breeding. The SAAS gene bank houses 48,000 germplasm resources of food crops, cash crops, green manure, pasture, medicinal plants, and vegetables, along with more than 60,000 stabilized genetic materials.
SAAS has established scientific and technological cooperation with several international organizations, such as the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (IMWIC), the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), and 10 other international entities. It has also partnered with more than 60 countries or regions, establishing a “Belt and Road” international science and technology industry innovation institute and three international science and technology cooperation bases in Shandong Province. Additionally, the academy has set up 26 joint laboratories with institutions from countries like the UK, Japan, Australia, Poland, and Indonesia, as well as international organizations such as ICRISAT, the International Center for Biological Applications (ICBA), and the European Union Committee of Pharmacognosy Tests (EUCPST).
SAAS oversees 21 research units, including the Crop Research Institute, Institute for Quality Standard and Testing Technology of Agricultural Products, Institute of Food and Nutrition Science and Technology, Institute of Crop Germplasm Resources, Shandong Academy of Pesticide Sciences, Shandong Institute of Pomology, Maize Research Institute, Institute of Industrial Crops, Institute of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Institute of Wetland Agriculture and Ecology, Tea Research Institute, Institute of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Agricultural Information and Economy Research Institute (Rural Remote Sensing Application Center), Poultry Institute, Grape Institute, Institute of Sericulture, Institute for Plant Protection, Vegetable Institute, Institute of Leisure Agriculture, Institute for Agricultural Mechanization, and Peanut Research Institute.
More information (in Chinese): http://www.saas.ac.cn/.
