About Us

The Post-Graduation Program in Plant Production/UFT was officially created in july 2006, being recommended by CAPES with the concept of 03 for the Master's course. Since its creation, there have been improvements mainly in research, teaching and university extension. In 2010, the Master's course obtained the concept of 04 by CAPES Triennial Evaluation. In 2011, the PhD in Plant Production was approved by CAPES. In 2018, the Program obtained the concept of 05 by CAPES (quadrennium 2017-2020), demonstrating a fast evolution process over the years.

The Master course, whose first class started in 2007, selects students every semester and/or year, and currently include the enrollment of 23 master students. Up to now, 180 dissertations have been concluded, being distributed in the following research lines: Plant Health, plant breeding, Agronomic, Soil and Water Management. All master students completed the course in about 24 months.

The PhD in Plant Production, whose first class started in 2012, selects students each year and 46 PhD students are currently enrolled. Up to the present moment, 45 theses have been concluded, being distributed in the following research lines: Plant Health, Plant breeding, Agronomic, Soil and Water Management. All PhD students completed the course in about 37 months.

The Program has sought to achieve greater integration with society, including the community, the State, producers and companies, in order to strengthen the research necessary for regional and professional development. To achieve this objective, the program has sought to develop its own technological model of sustainable agricultural production, considering the anthropized environments of the Cerrado and lowland areas, which are also impacted by climate change. Based on this vision, the roles of teachers involved in research groups and program lines were defined so that graduate students have an active training in the face of this new reality that Brazilian agribusiness is experiencing. Master's students receive solid and multidisciplinary training, enabling their skills and development of research interests aimed at guaranteeing the food base in sustainable agriculture in the Cerrado and lowland areas, seeking to guarantee the maintenance of the physical, chemical and biological properties of the soil, maintenance of water resources, with the development of plants resistant to water stress, preservation of useful organisms, including bees, natural enemies of aquatic and terrestrial environments, development of technological products from biological control and plant compounds, efficient for use against insect-pests and phytopathogenic microorganisms and the identification of plants with the potential to recover degraded areas. In this context, research is also included, including good agricultural practices, such as crop rotation, no-tillage, use of resistant local varieties, balanced nutrition, soil conservation, management to avoid creating pest and pathogen resistance to control methods, etc.

PhD students follow the same model proposed for the master's degree, however, additionally, emphasis has been given to the implementation of international partnerships, with study missions, in a sandwich model, allowing training in research centers recognized worldwide. Also included is the development of products and patents, resulting from the development of thesis, aimed at application in the model of sustainable agricultural production. In this context, the Post-Graduation Program in Plant Production has already managed to train a high number of masters and PhD students.