About AREC
The Agricultural Research and Education Center (AREC), also known as the AUB Farm, is a multi-functional and interdisciplinary center of the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences at the American University of Beirut. AREC is located in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, the country’s primary agricultural region, approximately 80 km east of Beirut. Spanning 100 hectares at an elevation of around 1,000 meters above sea level, the center operates in a semi-arid climate that provides a unique setting for agricultural education, research, training, and community engagement.
AREC serves as a living laboratory where students, faculty, researchers, farmers, and communities come together to connect scientific knowledge with real-world agricultural practice. Through its fields, laboratories, animal units, production systems, and outreach activities, AREC bridges the gap between conceptual learning and practical application.
At the heart of AREC’s mission is student learning through hands-on experience. Undergraduate agriculture students participate in farm operations, field activities, applied projects, and community-based learning experiences that prepare them to become ethical, skilled, and practice-oriented leaders in agriculture. AREC also provides facilities and services that support faculty research, graduate student projects, farmer training, and outreach initiatives.
AREC History
In 1953, Dr. Samuel Edgecombe, the first Dean of Agriculture at AUB, carefully selected a plot of 100 hectares of land for AUB's new Advancing Research, Enabling Communities (AREC). This land was located in the heart of the Bekaa Valley, a region with high levels of poverty and largely dependent on agriculture. AUB's goal was to develop a center for students, faculty and local communities to collaborate and create innovative solutions to agricultural problems that were affecting Lebanon, the Middle East and the wellbeing of its citizens.
Since its creation, AREC has facilitated many notable achievements, including the introduction of modern poultry production to the Middle East, new wheat and barley varieties, organic farming to Lebanon and a commitment to biodiversity conservation for Lebanon. Today, AREC remains one of the regions' premier academic centers catering to the needs of students, faculty, researchers, and communities and addressing some of the most pressing issues of our time, including the environment, development and the sustainability of rural livelihoods. But AREC’s greatest achievement remains its contribution to the education of hundreds of young men and women who have gone on to become leaders in their fields.
Increased collaboration with the private sector, including sharing equipment and expertise is helping local farmers increase crop yields, with added benefits to local dairy production. Numerous centers at AUB are taking advantage of AREC’s special location to study things like climate change, drought and water management.