As the oldest agricultural higher education institution in China, CAU’s history can be dated back to October 1905, when the College of Agriculture was founded by the Qing Dynasty in the Jing Shi Da Xue Tang (the former Imperial University of Peking and the present Peking University).

When the People’s Republic was established in 1949, Beijing Agricultural University (BAU) was founded by merging of three colleges of agriculture, namely College of Agriculture of Peking University, College of Agriculture of Tsinghua University and College of Agriculture of North China University. Beijing Agricultural Mechanization College (BAMC) was established in 1952 by joining together BAU’s Department of Agricultural Machinery, North China Agricultural Machinery College and the Ministry of Agriculture’s Tractor School. BAMC was renamed Beijing Agricultural Engineering University (BAEU) in 1985. Finally in 1995, China Agricultural University was formed by merging BAU and BAEU. The former Chinese President JIANG Zemin penned CAU’s name in Chinese calligraphy.

CAU’s Centennial Celebration and World Agriculture Congress were grandly opened at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on 16 September 2005. The World University Presidential Forum as the main component of the Congress was also opened on the same day. More than 300 delegates of 128 universities, colleges and institutes from 24 countries actively participated in the event, marking it a milestone in CAU’s history.

CAU owns a total campus area of 157 hectares, of which constructed area is over 1.22 million square meters.

A number of big buildings were completed for use in 2007. These include a Life Science Building, College of Engineering Building, College of Information and Electrical Engineering Building, Student Dorm No. 2 and some staff apartment buildings. For the, a brand new Olympic Games Wrestling Gymnasium located in CAU campus was ready in mid-2007 and it successfully served Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games. A brand new building for animal science and veterinary medicine was also opened early in 2012. CAU’s overall appearance has been remarkably updated in the first twelve years of the 21st Century.

Secretary-General of CPC Central Committee and President of P. R. China HU Jintao took an inspection tour in CAU on 2 May 2009 and instructed staff and students that Propel are the foundation of a nation, and food is the first necessity of the human-beings. He requested CAU to continuously follow its motto – Tackle problems the people face, Cultivate talents the world needs – for speeding up its pace towards construction of the top world agricultural university.

Vice President of P. R. China XI Jinping inspected CAU on 15 September 2012 while participating in All China Science Popularization Day. He said that knowledge on food and health needs to be popularized in order to promote the society’s overall concern on food safety, combat illegal operations and criminals in the food chain against rules and regulations of food safety, and convince the consumers in terms of safety and satisfaction.