The Department of Agri-Food Engineering and Biotechnology was set up in April 2001. Most of its staff were recruited from the oldest school of agriculture in Catalonia: the School of Agricultural Engineering of Barcelona (ESAB), which was founded in 1911 and had gained wide experience in teaching, research and extension activities in its 90 years of existence.

This multidisciplinary department is involved in a wide range of research activities although its focus is on agriculture, the agri-food industry and biotechnological applications for aquaculture. The Department's researchers belong to the Unit of Aquiculture and Quality of Aquatic Products of the Catalan government’s Aquaculture R&D Reference Network (XRAq), in which other leading Catalan research teams also participate.