The University Farm was founded in 1906 as an integral part of University facilities for education, research, and social services in the field of agricultural sciences. It is located roughly 40 kilometers south of the University's Main Campus in Seoul. The goal of the University Farm is to produce well educated professionals who will work in agricultural and related fields and contribute to the development of agriculture and life sciences both at the national and global levels. In order to train researchers, technicians, educators, and managers who have the creativity and ingenuity necessary for the agricultural field, the University Farm focuses on supporting undergraduate and graduate programs, experiments, and research, as well as aiming to support outreach education, research, collection, and conservation of plant genetic resources.
The University Farm consists of the divisions of crop research, horticultural research and basic research. University Farm includes 12 hectares of farmland and 0.6 hectares of greenhouses.

The University Forests, established in 1913, manages about 17,000 hectares of forest located in three local experimental forests: Southern (16,218 ha), Taehwasan (796 ha) and Chilbosan (110 ha). The University Forests have programs to support field practices of undergraduate and graduate students and forest-related research for forest management, forest hydrology, wildlife, recreation, and forest ecology. All the research and management policies are driven to develop advanced forest management techniques and field operation skills to realize a new global paradigm of sustainable forest management.

The Experimental Animal Farm was established to mainly support teaching and studies in the field of animal biotechnology, promoting experimental practice and research using animal in Seoul National University. A farm area is approximately 16 hectares which includes classroom building, forage crop field and animal barns. The Experimental Farm is also equipped with various facilities of animals such as separated house for Hanwoo (Korean native cattle), dairy cow, swine, hygienic poultry cage supplies as well as a dairy and meat processing plant, and an animal excreta treatment unit. Currently, many of animals raised on the Experimental Farm include Hanwoo, dairy cow, swine, poultry, quail, pheasant, sheep, goat, rabbit, mouse and hamster etc. Forage crop and meadow production studies are also conducted in the Experimental Farm. In addition, studies of animal excreta treatment to resolve environmental problem are being progressed. Consequently, Experimental Farm of Seoul National University is prepared for researches and education for next generation in the field of animal science and biotechnology.

The Arboretum founded in 1967 by Professor T. B. Lee at College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University is the oldest university arboretum and one of the lading center for the study of vascular plants in Korea. The Arboretum holds two gardens, Gwanak and Suwon Arboretum and the T.B. Lee Herbarium. Our mission is to collect and study about vascular plants that grow naturally in Korea and the Northern Hemisphere, to research and accumulate the knowledge for them and to provide the information for scientific research and public education. Also we focus on the propagation, conservation, and presentation of the living collections.

Research : The Arboretum promotes research by our faculty members and students to increase our knowledge of the botany and evolutionary history of plants in eastern Asia. General interest is in taxonomy and nomenclature of plants in Korea; at the same time, we are collecting plant germplasm of rare and endangered plants.

Education : The Arboretum offers basic educational material for students and conducts leading research on taxonomy and identification of trees and shrubs throughout eastern Asia.

Garden and Herbarium : Gwanak Arboretum (1,501 ha) is located at the southern suburbs of Seoul City extending from the border of the university's main campus to the Anyang valley of Mt. Gwanak. It is surrounded by oak-maple natural forest at 37°25'N latitude, 126°59'E longitude (atl. 90-200 m).

Gwanak Arboretum has collections of more than 1,700 taxa. Suwon Arboretum is located in Suwon at 37°15'N latitude, 128°59'E longitude (atl. 44 m), and has collections of 500 species of trees, shrubs and other plant from around the northern temperate hemisphere. Annual mean temperature and precipitation of both areas are around 11° and 1,190 mm. Major garden features include the Amur flora garden (eastern Korean flora), evergreen and warm temperate flora (Korea-Japan flora), North Chinese flora (western Korean flora), and fern collections.

The T.B. Lee Herbarium at Gwanak campus has about 100,00 specimens collected from China, Japan and Nepal as well as south Korea. The Arboretum is devoted to covering the literature of taxonomy regarding all eastern Asian flora.

The Agriculture and Life Sciences Library, established in August 1946 at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, was renamed as one of the branch libraries of the Central Library of Seoul National University in 1992.

The Agriculture and Life Sciences Library currently holds approximately 150,000 volumes of books for agricultural sciences and offers 43,000 electronic journals which are easily accessed through the library homepage. FAO publications, DVDs related to agricultural sciences, and the Digital Insect Museum data services are also available at the library.

On November 25, 1992, the National Instrumentation Center for Environmental Management (NICEM) was established at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) in Seoul National University. With its mission to promote and centralize research facilities for agricultural and environmental sciences and biotechnologies, NICEM was granted by 10th and 11th International Bank for Reconstruction Development (IBRD) education loan projects. NICEM received grants with an amount of approximately 14 million dollars for 6 years (1994 to 1999) and has been able to procure state-of-the-art research equipments and reinforce its facilities.

Because of its successful establishment, Ministry of Education, Sciences and Technology of Korea funded operation budget to NICEM from 1998 to promote and facilitate more rational and efficient use of highly valued research equipment. And, from year 2000, Ministry of Education, Sciences and Technology provided additional budget with an amount of approximately 1 million dollars per year for NICEM to upgrade and purchase the latest research equipment.

NICEM has grown into large organization as we hold increased number in staff members. Each year about 17,000 people use NICEM's equipments. The most encouraging fact is that more than 70% of its users are from over 200 organizations outside of the SNU, which indicates successful accomplishment of NICEM and its role as a nationwide research-and-education supporting institute.

NICEM endeavors to contribute in the agricultural sciences and technologies and sustainable agricultural practices in Korea continuously. This venture can be established by upgrading research capacity with the latest equipments and services to all agricultural and veterinary colleges in Korea, as well as educating most talented agricultural human resource.

NICEM is committed to provide most reliable and timely service on various analytical measurement data and listen to the comments of the equipment users so as to increase the utilization of our equipments and services. NICEM is open to all who wish to take the opportunities and its potential for their scientific endeavor.

The Information Center for Agriculture and Life Sciences (iCALS)

 

The Information Center for Agriculture and Life Sciences (iCALS) provides services to support education and research activities in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences(CALS)

The primary task of the iCALS is to serve the CALS faculties and students administratively as well as computationally in association with education, research, and training. The iCALS cooperates with the University Computer Center (UCC) to facilitate campus networking, runs a computer laboratory for lectures(Bldg 200, Bio Hall Room 1007) and information navigation(Bldg 200, Bio Hall Room 1008), and manages the home pages of the CALS and its associated institutes. The services of the wireless internet and Uspace internet cafe are also part of the iCALS work.

The website (http://icals.snu.ac.kr) operated by iCALS provides information on major IT services, agricultural life news, and research projects that are open to the public.

The Agricultural Business Incubator was established in September 2001 to support new venture creation in the area of agriculture and life sciences. It provides various resources to help venture industries to develop their own business. Along with research and office space, laboratory equipment and experimental facilities are provided. The Agricultural Business Incubator offers an education in general management, beginning of business, finance, investment, intellectual property, marketing, technology licensing among others. Many industrial partnerships and outreach programs also support and develop venture industries at the early stage of development. The business incubator acts as a hub for venture industries, investors, related entrepreneurs, and university faculties.

The University Plant Clinic (UPC) of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences in Seoul National University was established as ‘Tree Hospital’ in 1999, which was aimed at education and researches on conservation/management of plants and for technical consultation. In 2005, the ‘Tree Hospital’ was expanded and reorganized as ‘University Plant Clinic’ which is consisted of Fundamental Diagnosis Section, Clinical Pathology Section, Plant Pests Section, Tree Management Section, Environmental Physiology Section, and Administration Section.

The main tasks are as following: 1) diagnosis of damages on useful plant caused by plant diseases, insect pests and physiological disturbances, 2) field visitation and postal services, 3) consultation on management of plant health by using internet homepage, 4) services of recent theories on management of ornamental trees, 5) management of program, ‘Training Course of Landscape Tree Maintenance’ which is held twice a year, 6) R & D (Researches and Development) on managements of plant health and publication of professional books. The UPC is contributed to the public reputation of Seoul National University by providing various services on the consultation and diagnosis of the management of plant health to local communities.

The Center for Vocational Education and Workforce Development, attached to the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences in the Seoul National University, was established in 1963. The institute provides various in-service programs for secondary vocational teachers to increase and update their professional knowledges and skills necessary for teaching in vocational high schools. The institute is a unique official institute delivering teacher licensing programs for agricultural high school teachers to improve their theoretical and practical knowledges and skills.

The major courses delivered by the institute are licensing course, in-service training course and special development course. The institute has administered a leadership program for vocational education supervisors and administrators from the local offices of education in Korea since 2004.

The Farm Shop was established to provide practical agricultural machinery maintenance and manufacturing technologies for farm instruction. Farm Shop has an independent building in the University Farm and one large room at the central hall of the CALS building. It consists of metalwork lab, wood-work lab, and machinery shed. The Farm Shop at central hall provides its facilities for lecture and practice on farm shop as well as for the development of various experimental apparatus for research. The Farm Shop at University Farm displays various agricultural machines for education, and provide its machinery to the University Farm and the University Animal Farm.

Main facilities for metalworking include: arc welding, lathe, milling machine, universal cutter, and CNC. Facilities for woodworking include: band saw, circular saw, wood lathe, and wood plane. Additional facilities and tools include: various agricultural machineries such as tractors, combines, rice transplanters, and many others. Farm shop is open to all users for education, research, and social service.

The Insect Museum of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) in Seoul National University was founded in 1930's by Suwon Agriculture and Forest College, the predecessor of CALS. From 1930's through today, number of specimens in the museum amounts to 330,000 including major insect pests and many other arthropods in Korea. Much faunistic research on scarabaeid beetles in 1960's, the major pest group of Lepidopterans, Hemipterans, Coleopterans and thrips in 1970's, and pollinating bees in 1990's are available for examination in the museum's large archives.

The Insect museum also has various data and literature regarding the insect faunistic and geological research of Korean peninsula. The specimens are used for identification services and many research activities related to the prediction of pest outbreak, the investigation of beneficial insect species like endogenous natural enemies, and pollinating bees. We are able to evaluate the destroyed ecosystem or the restored ecosystem and measure the contamination level of environment by using collection data and specimens. They are also used for the plant quarantine service to protect the biodiversity of Korean peninsula.

The food factory located in the basement level 1 of the CALS Building (Bldg. #200) is a space for the Department of Food and Animal Biotechnology to conduct tests and trials. The food factory produces safe and excellent soybean paste (‘doenjang’) made with yeast, which is sold to the students and faculty of Seoul National University.