Plant Protection and Quarantine

Profession

It is difficult to imagine humanity without food products, production of which is the second most profitable after commodity business. However, a third of all crop production in the world is lost due to plant diseases, pests and weeds. It causes great losses, and without plant protection, production of many crops is not possible at all. In addition, the demand of the modern consumer market for ecological food puts forward another task — the search for non-chemical plant protection products, which is a profitable business today. The globalization of world trade is impossible without a plant quarantine service that issues permits for import and export of crop products, as there is a constant danger of importing new types of pathogens, poor-quality food products that are dangerous to health. All these are components of the profession of an international-level specialist in plant protection.

Educational Process

Students are immersed in practice-oriented scientific research related to the latest diagnostic methods, and study ways to create resistant plants, impact of climate change on pathogen aggressiveness and assessment of potential damage; explore new non-chemical plant protection products for organic food production.
Courses: “Molecular methods for diagnosing phytopathogens”, “Plant quarantine”, “Toxicology”, “Biology of weeds”, “Plant immunity”, “Virology”, “Biological method of plant protection” and others.

Practice

Training in leading companies producing plant protection products, such as Bayer, BASF, Syngenta, Schelkovo Agrokhim and others, allow you to learn the nuances of the chosen profession from future employers. Research practice at Federal Research Center ‘Fundamentals of Biotechnology’, All-Russian Plant Quarantine Center, Nemchinovka Federal Research Center forms professional competencies in future specialists, allowing them to participate in international competitions and undergo internships abroad.

Career

Having successfully mastered the educational program, students will be able to take the position of a manager in the world's leading companies producing plant protection products, both in Russia and abroad; work in the customs services of plant quarantine; become an expert of the international organization FAO; open their own company for production of healthy seeds and plant protection products.