UC agriculture and natural resources (UC ANR) is the land-grant arm for the university of california (UC)

The Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) $17.219 million through the Smith-Lever Extension Funding program (CFDA 10.511) on October 1, 2025, for a five-year period of performance extending through September 30, 2030.

UC ANR delivers integrated Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension programs across nine UC campuses, all 58 California counties, ten research and extension centers, and statewide institutes. The funding supports practical applications of research knowledge and cooperative agricultural extension activities delivered through six primary program areas organized into 31 specialized program teams, each co-led by campus-based and field-based academics and engaging external partners spanning state universities, community colleges, agricultural organizations, and non-governmental organizations. Research and extension work addresses complex issues including sustainable agriculture, food safety, animal health, forestry management, forest fire resilience, nutrition education for low-income populations, and rangeland resource management, producing peer-reviewed publications, technical reports, extension programming, and training of undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral scientists.

The Regents of the University of California, the formal awardee entity, operates UC ANR as the land-grant research and extension arm of the University of California system. Performance takes place across California with administrative oversight from Oakland, California.

UC's agricultural experiment station (AES) is integrated with UC cooperative extension (CE) across the state. UC ANR has AES and/or CE academics located on nine of the ten UC campuses, programs in every county in california, UC systemwide institutes, statewide programs, and ten research and extension centers (RECS) across the state. Integrating two additional campuses to UC's AES, UC santa cruz and UC merced, is an ongoing exciting endeavor, expanding UC's research portfolio on agricultural and food-related issues. The UC ANR network engages academics across the entire UC system to encourage integrated AES and CE teams to work on complex issues that require transdisciplinary approaches to find solutions. UC ANR academics work with colleagues in other states. The UC ANR connections also include faculty from the state university system, community colleges, private colleges and universities, and partners representing federal and state governmental agencies, organizations representing agricultural and natural resource production, non-governmental organizations (NGO's), and other interest areas including the environment, youth, and community nutrition and health. The 2040 strategic vision document serves as a blueprint to guide UC ANR work, structure, and resource allocation to address the identified california challenge areas that UC ANR is well positioned to address and realize the vision of being valued in every california community for meaningful engagement and making a positive impact in people's lives. For FFY2026, UC ANR updated the programmatic structure. Six new program areas listed below serve as the critical issues in the nifa reporting system. Under the program areas there are 31 more specifically focused program teams, which are each CO-led by one campus-based and one field-based academic, and engage external partners, to guide research and extension efforts. Agronomy and horticulture, animal production systems, community and economic development, integrated pest management, natural ecosystems and working landscapes, and youth, families, and communities