In terms of research, this department collaborates on 2 of the four ULAGOS Research Priority Areas (RPA’s): RPA2 (Sustainable aquaculture production), and RPA3 (Sustainable Agri-food System, Climate Change, and Biodiversity). The Department contributes significantly on these priority areas, focusing on disciplinary guidelines by areas as follows:
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- Aquaculture – Marine Biology: contains disciplinary guidelines on a) Sustainable Aquaculture, b) Aquaculture Diversification, c) Repopulation of Inland and Marine Hydro-biological Species, d) Hydric Resource, Ecology and Inland and Marine Water Management for Aquaculture and e) Marine Bio-toxins and Food Innocuity on Aquaculture Production Systems.
- Food: disciplinary guidelines on Science and Food Technology.
- Agronomy: Projected principal guidelines: a) Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation (Drought Resistance, Diseases and Plagues) and b) Native Species Genetic Studies, Characterization and Domestication.
Several of these guidelines contribute to more than one area and it is projected as an integrated work of the Aquaculture, Agronomy, and Food areas, applying circular economy principles, transforming liquid industrial wastes of aquaculture in agricultural inputs, optimizing water use to mitigate the great issue of hydric crisis and other extreme weather episodes associated with climate change.
All extensive research activity has enabled technology transfer through advisory and generation of patents and brands. For RDI projects, Center Metri, Center Río Sur, and Water Analysis, are operating in areas of aquaculture and marine biology. Food Technology offers services to the community through the Food Processing Plant, the Food Analysis Center (CEAL, its acronym in Spanish) and the Program for Conservation, Management and Sustainable Use of Plant Genetic Resources (FITOGEN). In the area of Agronomy, outreach stands out in the regional productive agriculture sector, through the implementation of a Demonstration Center of Fruit Trees and other Vegetables and Crops
(web).