The discipline of "Agricultural Resources and Environment" was founded by Zhang Jian in 1902 in Tonghai Agriculture School. In 1971, the major of Soil Agricultural Chemistry was set up in the former Jiangsu Agricultural College. In 1998, it was renamed Agricultural Resources and Environment. The discipline was approved the second-class master authorization program in Plant Nutrition and Soil Science by the Academic Degrees Committee of the Ministry of Education in 2001 and 2006, respectively, and the first-class master authorization program in Agricultural Resources and Environment in 2011. The discipline established two second-class master authorization programs in Fertilizer Science and Agricultural Marine Resources in 2011.

In Yangzhou University, it is the supporting discipline for "Agricultural Science", "Plant and Animal Science" and "Chemistry" all ranked in the top 1% globally by the Essential Science Indicators (ESI).

The discipline has four secondary discipline directions: Soil Science, Plant Nutrition, Agro-environmental Protection and Agricultural Resources. It has more than 50 sets of large instruments and equipment and has established 12 specialized laboratories in areas of soil, fertilizer and plant electrophysiology with a total area of 2200 m2. The ability to test and analyze soil, fertilizer and plant samples is recognized by the National Laboratory Metrology Qualification Certification (CMA). There are 22 full-time teachers and 4 full-time laboratory management personnel, including 10 professors, 6 associate professors, 5 doctoral supervisors and 22 master supervisors. More than 90% of the full-time faculty members have overseas study backgrounds. The discipline has invited many adjunct professors from famous universities and research institutes at home and abroad, such as Liebig University in Giessen, Germany, Appalachian State University, Nanjing Branch of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences. A number of faculty members are members of the Higher education Guidance Committee of the Ministry of Education and other experts of national and provincial industry guidance committees, expert committees, institutes and associations.

The discipline has large scientific research platforms, such as the "Yangzhou Agricultural Environment Safety and Technical Service Centre of Jiangsu Province" and the "Laboratory of Land Resources and Soil Pollution Remediation" jointly built by the ministry, province and the university. It is also the cooperative unit of “Organic Solid Waste Recycling Collaborative Innovation Centre of Jiangsu Province”, and an important member of the “China-Canada Joint Laboratory for International Cooperation in Agriculture and Food Sciences”. It has established 7 provincial and university-level graduate workstations, 3 long-term trial stations and 2 field teaching and experimental bases. In the past five years, the discipline has undertaken more than 40 national scientific research projects such as national key research and development programs and National Natural Science Foundation of China, over 60 provincial and ministerial scientific research projects and over 150 other scientific research projects, and has gained 6 national and provincial scientific research achievement awards.

The discipline attaches great importance to international exchanges and has established good cooperative relations with 35 universities and research institutes in the United States, Germany, The United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Spain, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Canada, the Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong and other countries and regions.

A number of faculty members are members of the International Society for Microbial Ecology (ISME), the European Geosciences Union (EGU), the Darwin Biogeochemistry Centre in the Netherlands, the Wetland Ecology Research Centre in the Netherlands (CWE) and the German Microbiology Society (VAAM).