Northwest A&F University

What Northwest A&F University does

Northwest A&F University (NWAFU) is a Chinese national key university founded in 1934, headquartered at No. 3 Taicheng Road, Yangling, Shaanxi Province, and administered by China's Ministry of Education as a 985 and 211 Project institution. Its core mission is higher education and applied research in agriculture, forestry, water resources, environmental protection, and related sciences, serving primarily domestic Chinese students enrolled in undergraduate, master's, and doctoral programs, with growing international student and exchange activity through its College of International Education. The university operates multiple colleges and research institutes spanning agronomy, horticulture, plant protection, animal science, food science, economics, and management, and sits within the Yangling Agricultural High-Tech Industrial Demonstration Zone, which provides industry-academia-research integration not available to peer institutions.

The university's research outputs are concentrated in wheat genomics, genetic breeding, plant pathology, ion transmembrane transport, and crop stress biology for arid regions. It has developed and globally deployed proprietary Wheat 660K and 55K SNP arrays, and released multiple wheat cultivars (including Nongda 399, Nongda 1108, Nongda 2011, Nongda 2018, and Kemai 1609) into China's main wheat-growing areas. Faculty have published in Nature, Nature Communications, and Molecular Plant, and the institution maintains research collaborations with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and international partners including the University of Edinburgh, UCL, RMIT, Teesside University, and the University of Florida.

NWAFU's revenue is structurally diversified rather than commercially driven, drawing primarily from government appropriations, tuition and educational services across degree programs, government and institutional research grants, and a smaller stream of conference and event registration revenue (e.g., 2,000 RMB for normal participants and 1,000 RMB for students at the Agricultural Finance conference). Its go-to-market is sales-led in the academic sense, operating through China's national college entrance examination (Gaokao) admissions system for domestic students and a dedicated International Education Office for international recruitment. Its distribution channels include the National Admissions System for domestic students, the College of International Education for international students, and the Silk Road Agricultural Education Innovation Alliance for multilateral research collaboration with universities in Belt and Road countries including Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

Name

Northwest A&F University

Legal name

Northwest A&F University

Website

https://en.nwsuaf.edu.cn

Company type

Private

Founded year

1934

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1,001–5,000 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Higher Education and Agricultural Research

NAICS

Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools (611310), Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools (6113)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Land-Grant Public Research Universities (EDAHAAAB)

Keywords

• Agricultural education
• Higher education research
• Wheat genomics breeding
• Crop stress biology
• Plant genetic research

Headquarters

HQ city

Yangling

HQ country

China

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Tuition and Educational Services: Revenue generated from undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs for domestic and international students
2. Research Grants and Funding: Government and institutional funding for agricultural research programs and projects
3. Conference and Event Organization: Registration fees and sponsorship revenue from international academic conferences such as the Agricultural Finance conference (2000 RMB for normal participants, 1000 RMB for students)

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Northwest A&F University provides higher education programs (undergraduate, master's, doctoral) in agriculture, forestry, and related sciences, and conducts applied agricultural research including wheat genomics, crop breeding, plant stress biology, and dryland farming. The university also delivers contract-based collaborative research, technology transfer, new wheat cultivar development, and international academic conferences to students, research institutions, and industry partners.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Degree Programs (Undergraduate, Master's, Doctoral) in Agriculture and Related Sciences Comprehensive higher education programs across multiple colleges for Chinese and international students pursuing bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees.
• International Academic Conferences and Workshops Hosted academic conferences bringing together researchers from global universities for paper presentation and special issue publication.
• Wheat Cultivar Development (Nongda 399, Nongda 1108, Nongda 2011, Nongda 2018, Kemai 1609) New wheat cultivars for the agricultural industry, developed from research on powdery mildew, stripe rust, leaf rust, and spot blotch resistance genes.
• Wheat 660K SNP Array High-density SNP genotyping array developed jointly with the Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, used globally for wheat genomics, gene resource, and molecular breeding applications.
• Wheat 55K SNP Array Medium-density SNP genotyping array developed for wheat breeding applications and adoption in molecular breeding programs.
• International Education and Exchange Programs College of International Education programs providing degree, exchange, and joint research opportunities for international students, including Silk Road cooperation.

Quantifiable outcome

• Developed multiple wheat cultivars used in main wheat growing areas
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• University of EdinburghcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 29 October 2022Collaborating on agricultural finance research and fintech applications for agriculture. The University of Edinburgh Business School is a co-organizer of the International Conference on Fintech and Climate Change Impact on Agricultural Finance, hosted by NWAFU.
• University College LondoncoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 29 October 2022Academic partner in the joint conference on agricultural finance and fintech, contributing to the Financial Markets and Sustainability Group research collaboration.
• Teesside UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 29 October 2022Partner in the International Agricultural Finance conference, with faculty member Mohammad Abedin serving as Special Theme Guest Editor for the joint publication.
• RMIT UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 29 October 2022Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology collaborates through the Financial Markets and Sustainability Group. Professor Jonathan A. Batten serves as conference co-chair. Joint special issue publication with JIFMIM and FRL journals.
• Chinese Economic Association (Europe/UK)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 29 October 2022Academic association partner for the International Conference on Fintech and Climate Change Impact on Agricultural Finance, providing academic network support.
• Chinese Academy of Agricultural SciencescoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 December 2017Ongoing research collaboration with the Institute of Crop Sciences on wheat genomics and breeding research. Joint development of wheat SNP arrays and gene resources.
• University of FloridacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 3 July 2017Co-sponsor of the International Symposium on Environment Application and Impacts of Biochar and Carbon Nanomaterial held at NWAFU in July 2017. Associate Professor Bin Gao from University of Florida served as committee chair.

Scale indicators3 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• University of California, Davis: Top US land-grant-style agricultural university; comparable to NWAFU in wheat and crop research scale and an active international partner of NWAFU through joint symposia.
• Wageningen University & Research: Globally leading agricultural and life-sciences university; relevant international benchmark for NWAFU's wheat genomics, plant sciences, and dryland-farming research positioning.
• Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences: National-level agricultural research institution and active partner of NWAFU; overlaps in wheat genomics and breeding research, operating as a larger, broader incumbent in the same field.

Direct peers

• Huazhong Agricultural University: Public research university in Wuhan with overlapping strengths in crop genetics, horticulture, and life sciences; a peer institution for faculty recruitment and agricultural research funding.
• Nanjing Agricultural University: Another Project 211/985-equivalent public agricultural university with strong crop science and plant pathology programs; competes with NWAFU for national research funding and graduate students.
• China Agricultural University: China's flagship public agricultural university and Project 985 institution; directly comparable to NWAFU in agricultural education and wheat/crop research scope, with stronger national brand recognition.
• South China Agricultural University: Public agricultural university with complementary crop science programs in southern China; comparable in structure as a comprehensive Project-211 agricultural research and teaching institution.
• Sichuan Agricultural University: Public research university with strong rice and crop genetics programs; comparable peer in scale, research scope, and faculty profile within China's agricultural higher-education tier.
• Northeast Agricultural University: Public agricultural university in Heilongjiang focusing on cold-region crops and animal science; competes with NWAFU for ministry funding and Project 211 status positioning.

Emerging players

• University of Chinese Academy of Sciences: Hosts the College of Advanced Agricultural Sciences, where Prof. Zhiyong Liu (the PI behind much of NWAFU's wheat work) is also a professor; overlaps with NWAFU in faculty and wheat genomics research output.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInis.nwsuaf.edu.cn/home/index.htm

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Northwest A&F University