Nanjing Agricultural University is the birthplace of modern grass science in China. As early as the 1940s, Prof. Wang Dong, the founder of grass science in China, was engaged in the teaching and scientific research of herbology at the Central University, the predecessor of Nanjing Agricultural University, and renowned grass scientists, such as Prof. Ren Jizhou, Prof. Xu Linghume, and Prof. Xu Peng, academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, have all studied and worked here.

In October 2012, in order to adapt to the needs of the national grass and pasture development and reform, the school took the Grass Engineering Department of the College of Animal Science and Technology as the main body, and integrated part of the disciplines of the Horticulture Department of the College of Horticulture, to form the Grass College.