The agricultural university in the Smolensk region arose after a long history, since there were no higher educational institutions in the current territory of the region until the beginning of the XX century.

The first steps in agricultural science were taken by A.N. Engelhardt. In 1886, in the family estate, he created an exemplary farm and a school for the training of "intelligent landowners."

At the beginning of the XX century, a progressive agricultural school was opened on the estate of the Tenishev princes in Talashkino, and the Goretsky Agricultural Institute (now the Belarusian Agricultural Academy, Gorki) provided training for the Smolensk region.

The policy of the Soviet government led to the opening of various higher educational institutions, including colleges founded in 1919. In 1932, the colleges were transformed into higher communist agricultural schools. In 1933, the first 200 graduates of the Smolensk Regional School became specialists in agriculture. However, in the mid-1930s, these schools ceased to exist due to the reform of the education system in the country.

On December 2, 1929, the Bureau of the Western Regional Committee of the CPSU(b) decided to open a budget agricultural university in Smolensk. However, the institute, called the Zootechnical and Veterinary Institute, was opened only in 1935. A building was built for it on Oktyabrskaya Street.

Scientists of the institute and the experimental station have achieved success by breeding 11 varieties of flax, which occupied half of the varietal crops in the USSR. The station was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.

The Institute was closed during the Great Patriotic War and reopened in 1952. The building of the Institute is associated with important historical events: in 1812, the military council of Barclay de Tolly and Bagration was held here, in 1917 the Smolensk Council and the Revkom were located, from 1943 to 1954 - the city Council.

However, without making a single graduation, the Smolensk Veterinary Institute was transferred to Velikiye Luki in 1956, where future animal technicians continued their studies, and veterinarians were sent to the Vitebsk Veterinary Institute.

In the mid-1970s, agricultural education in the Smolensk region received a new stage with the opening of a branch of the Moscow Timiryazev Agricultural Academy in Smolensk.

This became possible thanks to the order of the Ministry of Agriculture of the USSR dated August 9, 1974, initiated by Smolensk regional organizations and the first secretary of the Smolensk Regional Committee of the CPSU Ivan Yefimovich Klimenko.

The educational institution is located in two buildings that played a major role in the historical, political, social and cultural life of Smolensk, which today are historical monuments of the city.

The branch began its work on December 1, 1974 with the work of the preparatory department under the leadership of Candidate of Agricultural Sciences Alexander Ivanovich Golovni.

The first students were young people who came to study mainly from the Smolensk hinterland in the areas of farms, which formed the backbone of the first set, and then the first issue of the Smolensk branch of the TLCA.

Alexander Ivanovich Golovnya played a key role in the formation of the university, creating a material and technical base, a library fund and attracting professional teaching staff.

The economically backward agricultural enterprise Korobovo in the Vyazemsky district was transferred to the institute as an educational and experimental farm. Thanks to the scientific and practical assistance of the teaching staff and students, it was turned into an advanced economy of the region.

Most graduates continue their professional activities in the Smolensk region, where they have a significant impact on the development of various sectors of the agro-industrial complex.