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Camden

Pioneering the future of food and sustainable farming

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The University of Sydney's Camden campus is a world-class facility dedicated to advancing agricultural research and education.

Our state-of-the-art laboratories and expansive farmlands provide the ideal environment for research in soil, plant, and animal sciences. 

Students and researchers at Camden have access to a wide range of resources to explore solutions for global food security.

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Sydney Institute of Agriculture

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Advancing agricultural research and knowledge

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Agronomy facilities

Our Camden campus provides the ideal environment for innovative research in soil and plant science. By leveraging our facilities, researchers are working towards a sustainable future for agriculture.

Occupying the central part of the farm formerly known as Karalee, the Plant Breeding Institute building includes offices for staff, with adjoining plastic poly-houses and controlled-temperature laboratories for plant-breeding research.

There is 2.5 ha block of arable land to the east of the Plant Breeding Institute building. Advance breeding activities in cereals, grasses and ornamental crops are conducted onsite. It is the home of the Australian Cereal Rust Control program. 

Lansdowne Farm, occupies an area of 24 ha and includes a neighbouring farm previously used for turf production. It's located on the southern side of Cobbitty Road and extends down to the Nepean River.

The alluvial soils here are used for a variety of purposes including Australian Cereal Rust Control Program trials, small agronomy trials and demonstration cropping for undergraduate teaching.

36 Varieties of native plant grown on our Camden farms

Livestock farms

Our farms serve as both a learning laboratory and a research hub, providing students with practical experience and researchers with the tools to drive innovation in agriculture.

Students and researchers have access to a diverse range of livestock, including cattle, sheep, and poultry, enabling hands-on experience and groundbreaking research.

Coates Park, Wolverton Farm, John Bruce Pye Farm (JB Pye Farm) and the Greendale School site comprise 466 hectares of beef cattle fattening enterprises. JB Pye Farm is used for teaching and research as a demonstration mixed enterprise farm.

Our vision is to provide world-class hands-on tuition in basic horse handling, topographical anatomy and day-one graduate veterinary clinical skills, in a self-sufficient and sustainable manner, while ensuring best-practice animal welfare.

The Horse Unit is situated on the river flats on the Cobbitty side of the Nepean River. There are currently 55 horses of mixed breeds and ages that reside on the property permanently. The farm operations are geared around being self-sufficient and sustainable, within the constraints of availability of suitable land.

The sheep Unit is principally used to support undergraduate teaching in general sheep handling, husbandry and health as well as basic and applied aspects of reproduction and genology. It supports research programs in sheep.

Research performed at the Sheep Unit has resulted in major scientific and practical outcomes including the invention of oestrus synchronisation, the first successful cryopreservation of ram semen, artificial insemination of sheep and the first production of pre-sexed lambs.

This flat site is located on the Nepean River and is mostly cleared. This site remains essential to guarantee fodder production for dairy all year round. We hold a license that permits water for irrigation to be pumped from the river and we currently run a lateral move irrigator and pivot irrigator on the site.

Corstorphine Farm, University park and Moffitt's/Cannons lies on the banks of the Nepean River west of the historic village of Cobbitty.

The farm supports 350 cows producing high-quality milk for the Sydney market. The deep alluvial soils are ideal for growing lush pastures required for milk production. The dairy is primarily used for research and teaching, and generates all of its own operating expenses by operating on a commercial-like basis.

Mayfarm is a property that consists of 121 hectares of slightly undulating dryland grazing and alluvial creek flats. Mayfarm is principally used to support teaching (bovine and porcine) and maintain the dry herd from the Corstorphine dairy operation.

The Mayfarm Porcine (pig) Unit at Camden is used solely for teaching and research purposes. The space is a “farrow-to-finish” pig unit, managed by the Farms team along commercial industry lines. The pig unit is located within the University’s Mayfarm site. Pigs are bred, reared and grown to market weight at the unit.

Mt Hunter consists of two properties and is located on Mayfarm Road as well and down the road from the Mayfarm site. This site was previously used for sheep research and is now used by the dairy for their younger heifers.

900ha Over 900 hectares of farmland dedicated to teaching and research.

Enquiries

Paul Lipscombe

Camden Farm Operations Manager

Email: paul.lipscombe@sydney.edu.au
Phone: +61 2 9351 8833

David Palmer

Camden Teaching Farm Units Supervisor

Email: david.palmer@sydney.edu.au
Phone: +61 2 9036 7759