Agricultural Research Institute (ARI)

The California State University Agricultural Research Institute (ARI) is a diverse and comprehensive multi-campus applied agricultural and environmental research program that leverages state funding with university and industry capital and intellectual collateral through university-industry partnerships.

ARI's collective expertise is a collaboration between the state's agriculture and natural resource industries, allied business communities, and the CSU's four colleges of agriculture at:

• Chico State
• Fresno State
• Cal Poly Pomona
• Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

ARI projects and programs seek to resolve California farm, ranch and consumer challenges such as improving food quality and safety, increasing productivity and enhancing economic viability. Research also addresses emerging sustainability issues such as environmental compatibility and domestic and international competitiveness. In addition, ARI explores solutions for strategic gaps in our knowledge base that otherwise might not be studied by for-profit companies and institutions because there is little or no financial incentive to do so, despite their importance.

The ARI primarily focuses on finding immediate and practical solutions for high-priority challenges in fields ranging from biotechnology and food safety to animal genomics and water and irrigation technology. 

See the Research Areas Supported by Cal Poly Pomona

The ARI receives a $4.37 million annual State General Fund budget allocation to support applied research and outreach activities. The ARI distributes this public funding to support scientifically peer-reviewed research that is annually matched at least one-to-one with industry and/or agency resources to fund high-priority research, development, and technology transfer activities, as well as public and industry education and outreach.

ARI funding allocations are expressly designed to encourage CSU system and individual campus excellence through a combination of competitive research and capacity-building enhancements. Individual campus funding is allocated through the respective colleges of agriculture on a competitive basis and must be utilized for agricultural, allied business or natural resources applied research. Research funding opportunities, however, are not exclusive to the colleges of agriculture.

Please don't hesitate to contact us with questions about the suitability of your project.  We look forward to working with you!