Research is carried out within higher education establishments and specialist research centres which have long experience of co-operation with companies. Among such establishments and centres are Inra and Cemagref.

Afssa	IFR GFAS
Agrocampus Ouest	Inra
Bionov	Institut de l'élevage
Cémagref	ITG Ouest
Cerel	ITP
Cetaa	Ouest-génopole
CNRS	Pôle Agronomique Ouest
ENSCR	University of Rennes 1

Animal health and research in veterinary medicinal

Agrocampus Rennes is made up of the two higher education establishments of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, which are the National higher agronomic school of Rennes (Ensar) and the National higher institute for education in the food industry (Insfa), as well as the Institute for Higher studies in dairy industry science and economics (Iesiel).

The centre for higher education and research in agronomy groups together several institutes, with 850 students, 200 lecturer-researchers and administrative as well as technical staff on a campus of 17 ha.

Operation of an R&D pilot installation for the concentration, evaporation and drying of dairy products.

Design and development of competitive equipment for the farming and food-processing industries, engineering and management of natural environments: water, the environment, rural development (NMR, digital vision, MR imaging).

Network of 23 public research teams with 150 research staff and 120 technical staff to support the dairy research in a multidisciplary approach from the herds and the farms to the dairy processing industries and the consumers.

Formulation, analysis and experimentation of food products (milk, dairy produce, meat products, vegetables).

Cell biology and reproduction.

Analytical chemistry, biotechnologies, environmental science, procedures, analysis, model building. Chemistry laboratory specialising in environmental pollution and engineering, research into membrane separation techniques and development of the fermentation process.

Basic research institute gathering research activities in biology, health, agronomy. Interface between units to increase disciplinary knowledge, transfer towards clinical and therapeutic application or towards improvement of the agronomic production.

The Inra research centre in Rennes has 24 research units undertaking experimental research and providing support and back-up for the research sector. It employs 1,000 people specialising in 3 main areas:

• quality of food products,
• biology of organisms for use in agriculture,
• durability of agricultural production systems and the quality of ecosystems.

Engineering, technical innovation in breeding, especially for herbivores.

Improvement to the quality of cheeses produced in Western France.

Research and experiments on the Institute's pig farm and actions in breeding stations.

Development in genomics and post-genomics.

5 technological plateforms ie. gene sequencing and genotyping, transcriptomics, proteomics, functional exploration and bioinformatics.

In Rennes, Ouest-génopole involves 19 research units.

Engineering research projects in the domain of living science: agriculture, sea products, food trade and health.

Research in the fields of microbiology, genetic engineering, and enzymology - Research into plants (selection, multiplication, improvement, protection)