The Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology (IGA), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) was formed by merging the former Changchun Institute of Geography and the Heilongjiang Institute of Agricultural Modernization in March 2002. It is a comprehensive research and training base specialized in geography, agriculture, ecology, environmental science and technology.
During the 60 years, the institute provided solid scientific foundations for national strategies on food security, ecological security and the implementation of the Revitalization of Old Northeast Industrial Base.
In the past 60 years, IGA has made great achievements in many fields. It established the theory of China's wetland discipline, discovered the processes of wetland formation and evolution, developed key technologies for restoration of degraded salt marshes and the compound ecological paradigm of the Reed-Crab/fish-Rice, elucidated the degradation mechanism of Black Soil, cloned gene E1 which controls the flowering of soybean and gene J which regulates soybean yield and established the theoretical scheme of soybean molecular design breeding and the soybean gene bank with huge capacity.
IGA developed and demonstrated key technologies of low yield farmland management, fast restoration of climax vegetation on sodic lands and large-scale rice planting and soil improvement in saline-sodic lands and crop planting mode with high light efficiency.
IGA joined a massive research campaign to evaluate and tackle black soil degradation in 2021, creating new crop varieties and farming equipment that can ensure the sustainability and productivity of this fertile land. Its efforts have led to discoveries and breakthroughs in black soil conservation and use, cementing China's position as the leader in global black soil research since 2021.
IGA houses the Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecology and Environment, CAS, the Key Laboratory of Black Soil Agroecology, CAS, the Key Laboratory of Soybean Molecular Design Breeding, CAS, the Center of Remote Sensing and Geographic Information and the Regional Development Research Center of Northeast China.
Taking the Sanjiang Plain Wetland Research Station as the core, IGA has established the Wetland Observatory Network in Northeast China. Taking the Hailun Agroecosystem Field Station as the core, IGA established the Agricultural Observatory Network in Northeast China.
Looking forward to the future, facing the national strategy of food security and ecological security, IGA will strive to build irreplaceable research institution with interdisciplinary agronomy and geoscience.
