Formally known as Chahar Provincial Datong Farm，the High Latitude Crops Institute was founded in 1949. After several changes in name and affiliation, it was placed under the Shanxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences in 1979.

On October 19th, 2019, the Shanxi Provincial Committee and Provincial Government decided to jointly reform the Shanxi Agriculture University and Shanxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences and establish a new Shanxi Agriculture University . Now it is affiliated with Shanxi Agriculture University and is a professional provincial agricultural research institute in northern Shanxi Province. The current Party Secretary and Director is Xing Baolong, the Deputy Party Secretary is Ma Tao, and the Vice Director is Zhang Yongfu.

Our institute is mainly engaged in the collection and protection of germplasm resources and breeding of new varieties of crops such as potato, coarse cereals (including millet, oats, proso millet, buckwheat and edible beans), daylily, oil crops (including flax, soybean and rapeseed), forage grass, maize and Chinese medicinal materials. Meanwhile, we also do scientific research on high-yield theories, organic dryland cultivation techniques, bioengineering, improvement of soil fertility, water-saving agriculture, disease and insect control, protected field cultivation and other research on crops planted in high-latitude regions. In addition, we also work in the social services, such as demonstration and promotion of new varieties and new techniques, agricultural science consultation and training of agricultural technicians. The High Latitude Crops Institute always firmly insists on serving "agriculture, rural areas and farmers" in its innovation and development, striving to make contributions to the development of "special" and "excellent" agriculture in Shanxi Province, and helping local rural revitalization and development.

The institute has acquired 90 accumulated scientific achievements since establishment, 75 technological progress awards of the national and provincial (ministry) level, 128 new recognized crop varieties, with an accumulative acreage of 6 million hectares and a social benefit of about 3.5 billion yuan. The institute has also published more than ten books and more than 700 theses.

In 2020, "Two institutes and One Center" (Datong Daylily Industrial Development Research Institute, Datong High-quality Farmers Training Institute, Datong Rural Revitalization Service Center), jointly set up by Datong People's Government and Shanxi Agricultural University, was established intheHigh Latitude Crops Institute. The institute is the national breeding base for virus-free potato original seed and virus-free potato improved seed and the national breeding innovation base of coarse cereals. It is a entrusted institution of National Agriculture Science Datong Observation Station. It was designated by the department of agriculture and rural affairs of Shanxi Province as "Shanxi Province crop germplasm resources daylily sub-center". It is the Industrial Technique Innovation Strategic Alliances director-general unit of Datong daylily, flax, and proso millet in Shanxi Province. It is recognized as the Datong Daylily Key Laboratory and Datong Daylily Zhongchuang Space by Datong Science and Technology Office.

The institute has 124 staffmembers, including 13professors or equivalent, 39 associate professors or equivalent, 5 master’s supervisors, 3 with doctorates and 27 with masters degrees. The institute has five managers of the comprehensive test station of National Modern Agricultural Industry Technology System, one chief expert of the Modern Agricultural Industry Technology System in Shanxi Province, one special government allowances of the State Council, two “Sanjin Elite” in Shanxi and six academic and technical leaders in Datong.

The institute consists of six administrative departments, including the party and government office,the scientific research office, the social service office, the human resources management department, the finance & assets department, and the logistics & security department. The institute has 16 research offices, including the academic committee office, test base operation office, lab management office, potato research office, medicinal plant research office, maize research office, special crops research office, rapeseed research office, legumes research office, vegetables and flowers research office, forage grass research office, oats and buckwheat research office, daylily research office, flax research office, millet research office and proso millet research office. The new varieties of potatoes and coarse cereals bred by the institute are widely promoted in the north of Shanxi Province and the similar ecological areas in the surrounding provinces and cities. The coverage rate of potatoes, flax, proso millet is above 80%, which plays an important role for the development of local coarse cereals industry. In recent years, our institute has been focusing on the advantage of resources in Datong and the needs of industrial development, and is guided by the technical needs of the local agricultural industry based on special coarse cereals breeding, organic dryland farming technology integration, daylily seedlingfactory production and standardized cultivation work. We maintain and promote the improvement of potato, characteristic coarse cereals, and daylily. Our institute has been further broadening and strengthening the research fields of supporting technology of excellent seed and method, light-simplified cultivation technology, whole course mechanized cultivation technology and agricultural biotechnology, and has gradually formed a research discipline with high latitude characteristics.