Message
Greeting from Dean of Graduate School
From the genetic level to the global level: The subject matter involved in “agriculture,” which is based on life, is diverse and interesting.
Dean, School of Agriculture and
Graduate School of Agriculture HORINO Haruhiko
Osaka Prefecture University, one of the predecessors of Osaka Metropolitan University, originally had the College of Agriculture, which was reorganized into the College of Life, Environment, and Advanced Sciences, when the university was incorporated in 2005. After some reorganization, it was decided to put up the sign of “School of Agriculture” again with the establishment of the new university (Osaka Metropolitan University). This was not necessarily aimed to return to the basics, but was conducted because we wanted to steer the academic knowledge and techniques that we had developed during our time in Life, Environment, and Advanced Sciences to be used in a new agricultural science related to the persistence of living things.
As you know, agriculture in English is said to have originally come from the Latin word “ager”, meaning “to cultivate.” Obviously, the fundamental and essential role of “agriculture” as a livelihood is to provide food and other products that support people’s sustainable lives. The significance of this is intrinsic and will always remain important. Nowadays agriculture is not only considered in the narrow sense of growing crops, but it is also recognized to be deeply related to farmland as a land resource, rural villages as living groups, environmental formation, conservation and utilization of various local resources, and ecosystem services. In other words, agricultural science is now being developed as an academic discipline not only for food production but also for material production, energy production, and environmental formation. Additionally, agricultural science plays two roles: a purely academic field and a “practical science” field that returns the findings to society (social implementation). For example, in recent years, bioscience has become important in agronomy and is being applied to crop breeding through safe genetic manipulation, and new agricultural production systems are being developed through Information and Communications Technology-based precision agriculture technology. Again, while considering the essence of food supply, the future of agricultural science must be updated to include clarification of biological functions and life phenomena, diagnosis and understanding of the natural environment, and proposals for human activities in harmony with the environment while integrating with other science fields.
To develop human resources that can meet these demands, the School of Agriculture and the Graduate School of Agriculture would like to develop education and research in relation to food, health, the environment, and biological resources. As stated in the Philosophy, the main educational objective is specifically to cultivate skills that contribute to “securing and effective use of biological resources”, “sustainable food production and consumption”, “formation of a rich living environment”, “conservation and creation of biocultural diversity”, and “contribution to health issues” and to foster professionals who can play active roles in industrial fields and governmental organizations where their learning can be useful. I believe that it is important to understand the world around us and the natural environment through our five senses without regard to unfounded information. I also believe that having an interest in everything is the key to keeping the fun and not getting bored. If you are interested in agricultural science, why don’t you join us and polish your skills?