The institute was established by Dr.
Sam Higginbottom, an English-born
Presbyterian missionary in 1910 as the Department of Agricultural Economics and an Extension of
Ewing Christian College,
Allahabad. The institute was declared as a separate entity from the college in 1918. The Department of Animal Husbandry was the first department of the institute established in 1924. It was an important landmark in the history of dairy training in India as the admission to the first batch of Indian Diploma in Dairying (IDD) was conducted here. After a meeting in Benaras, Dr. Higginbottom and
Mahatma Gandhi became friends and started exchanging letters on issues such as agriculture, poverty alleviation and rural economy. Gandhiji visited the institute in 1929 and sought his advice on several occasions. In the 1930s, the institute was supported by
Harvard-Yenching Institute to expand its teaching and research programme in agricultural sciences. About the same time the institute was recognized by the government for a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture science and became affiliated with the
University of Allahabad. Another landmark came in 1942, when it became the pioneer institute to offer an
Agricultural Engineering degree in India. In November 1947, the institute was brought under an independent "Board of Directors of the Allahabad Agricultural Institute" which was sponsored as an ecumenical body by a number of churches and missions. During this phase the institute was taken up by
Arthur T. Mosher, and he is largely credited with major expansion of infrastructure and the introduction of famous "Jamuna Par Punar Yojna", the
extension project of recruiting workers at the village level. Between 1950 and 1957
Albert Mayer, an American architect, was assigned for developing the major buildings of the institute. In 1951, the
Ford Foundation granted $940,000 to the institute for carrying out the research and development projects. In 1952, the
University of Illinois signed a contract with the
United States Agency for International Development for assisting the institute in improving its educational programs. Between 1950 and 1980,
John B. Chitamber led the institute successfully and made
Agricultural extension a very well known programme of the institute. To obtain more academic freedom and to strengthen its research and extension programmes, a proposal was submitted to the Department of Higher Education,
Ministry of Human Resource Development in August 1994, that the institute be granted the status of a
deemed university. The institute was conferred the same on 15 March 2000 and Dr. Rajendra B. Lal was appointed as the first
vice-chancellor of the university. ==Campus==