The establishment of G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, the first Agriculture University of the nation, in 1960 was a symbolic expression of collective will of people of India to march towards self-sufficiency in food production through integrated teaching, research and extension. The success story of this first Agricultural University complements the major success story of the independent India in terms of food security. The university was the first SAU based on Land Grant University pattern, emphasizing integration of research-education-extension. Within few years of its establishment, it emerged as the leading and a model Land Grant University in India. The land granted to it not only provided it excellent experimental farms but also huge seed farms which evolved into the famous Tarai Development Corporation : a major seed centre in the country.

The University in its 56 years of existence not only revolutionized agricultural education but also introduced innumerable novel concepts of research and extension, which enabled the country to achieve food security and rural prosperity within an unimaginable short period. The University continues to march vibrantly to face the challenges of an open economy and globalization of trade. It is devising strategies that would harness advances in science, technology and management to transform these challenges into opportunities.

The University Education Commission of 1949 headed by Dr. Radhakrishanan was the first to articulate the need of establishing rural universities to impart agricultural education amidst rural settings. This began to take shape in 1954, when an Indo-American team led by the then Vice President of ICAR, Dr. K.R. Damle stipulated the parameters of such universities. It opted for the land-grant system of the USA and in October 1959 in technical collaboration with the University of Illinois the process of establishing agricultural specialists from there initiated a comprehensive project for agricultural education in northern India. At the same time, the Government of Uttar Pradesh sought Dean H.W. Hannah's assistance in the preparation of a blueprint of a rural University to found at the Tarai State Farm in the district Nainital. Thus, the first Agricultural University of India, the U.P. Agricultural University, came into existence by an act of legislation (U.P Act REV of 1958 and which was later amended under the Uttar Pradesh Universities Re-enactment and Amendment Act 1974) as Govind Ballabh Pant Krishi and Prodyogik Vishwa Vidayalya, Pantnagar.

The University was inaugurated and dedicated to the nation on November 17, 1960 by the first Prime Minister of India, late Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru. The objectives of the University were primarily to improve agriculture and enhance the rural economy of the U.P. state. The main campus at Pantnagar is situated in the Tarai region at 29N latitude and 79.3E longitude at an elevation of 232.8 m above mean sea level. It is located away from the congestion of townships and hence has a pollution free and serene environment, which is conducive for teaching, research and extension activities. Spread over an area of more than 10,000 acres of land, it is the second largest University of the world in terms of contiguous area.

Despite its being away from hub-bub of cities, it is well connected to state and national capitals through road, rail and air. The bus station, two railway stations and an aerodrome are located on the periphery of the University. It has its own workshop, printing press, transport pool, feed-plant, telephone exchange, shopping centre, hospital, seed processing plant, dairy with daily production of 2200 liters of milk, vast poultry, one of the most prosperous libraries of world, huge central computing facility and sections of water supply, electric supply, sanitation and general maintenance. Government agencies like Bank, Post Office, and Low Pressure Gas distribution centre also exist in the campus. Besides the creation of such civic amenities, the University has maintained the state-of-art excellence through sincere maintenance and upkeep of all these services. All such features have led to a distinctive culture of learning in this University, thereby creating a truly unique institution not only for progressively augmenting the technological innovations, but also for turning out highly motivated youth capable of handling a variety of multidimensional challenges in the country and elsewhere in the world.