From research and service laboratories to farmer's fields, nuclear techniques play an increasingly valuable and often unique role in agricultural research and development. They are used for a wide range of purposes such as improving soil and water management, producing better crop varieties, diagnosing animal diseases, controlling insect pests and improving food quality and safety.
In no small measure, the collaborative work of two global organizations - the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) - has been instrumental to this progress. In October 1964, the two organizations combined forces to form a Joint Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture which unified FAO's atomic energy branch and IAEA's agricultural unit, and in the process created a common programme that avoided overlap and duplication of efforts.
An integral component of the joint effort is the research, training and analytical support provided to the Joint Division's programme by the FAO/IAEA Agriculture and Biotechnology Laboratory, located within the Agency's Laboratories at Seibersdorf, some 35 km south of Vienna.