The Institute of Subtropical Agriculture (ISA) was founded in 1978 in Taoyuan County, Hunan Province and is now located in the provincial capital of Changsha.

　　ISA primarily conducts research on agricultural sustainable development, the processes of agroecosystems and their adaptive management, integrated systems of livestock farming and crop production, watershed environmental health control, and agricultural environmental microbiology.

　　ISA’s research facilities include the Center for Regional Agroecology, the Center for Animal Nutrition and the Environment, and the Center for Molecular Ecological Mechanisms and Breeding for Stress Tolerance in Crop Plants. ISA is also home to the CAS Key Laboratory of Agroecological Processes in Subtropical Regions. It also has four field observation and research stations in various locations in subtropical China: the Taoyuan Observation and Research Station for Agroecology; the Huanjiang Observation and Research Station for Karst Ecosystems; the Dongting Lake Observation and Research Station for Wetland Ecosystems; and the Changsha Observation and Research Station for the Agroenvironment.

　　As of December 2013, ISA had 258 staff members, including one member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, 22 professors and 38 associate professors. The institute offers Ph.D. and master's programs in ecology, as well as master's programs in animal nutrition and feed science, and in environmental engineering. About 200 graduate students, including several international students, work and study at ISA, as do many domestic and international scholars. In addition, three postdoctoral scholars are currently conducting research in the institute's postdoctoral ecology program.

　　From 2009 to 2013,ISA researchers conducted 408 important scientific research projects and published 997 academic papers, most in top SCI journals. In addition, ISA published 26 monographs and was granted 26 patents for scientific innovations.

　　The institute has developed strong cooperative relationships in the areas of research, student training and academic exchange exchange with international organizations, universities and other academic institutions in more than 20 countries or regions. Partners include The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), the International Rice Research Institute, the World Wide Fund For Nature, Japan's National Institute for Environmental Studies, Rothamsted Research of the UK, France's Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Canada's University of Guelph, Japan's Kagoshima University, and Thailand's Naresuan University, etc.

　　As of December 2013,ISA had sent more than 60 researchers and graduate students abroad for academic exchange and cooperative research. ISA had also hosted 12 scholars supported by the CAS Visiting Professorship for Senior International Scientists Program and two scholars supported by the CAS-TWAS Fellowship Program. From 2009 to 2013, ISA sponsored many international conferences, including the Second International Symposium on Sustainable Agriculture in Subtropical Regions; the Fourth International Symposium on Nutrition, Feedstuff and Healthy Feeding of Animals; the International Symposium on Key Technologies of Healthy and High-Quality Swine Production; and the 9th China-Korea-Japan Joint Symposium on Rumen Metabolism and Physiology.

　　
Address:644 Yuanda Rd., Furong District, Changsha, Hunan 410125, China
Tel:86-731-84615204
Fax:86-731-84612685
E-mail:zkwen@isa.ac.cn
Website:http://english.isa.cas.cn/.