Using the Letput platform, this paper presents a statistical analysis of the total number of NSFC projects, the number of different types of projects, and the projects of different years and different departments of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences (CAFS), and Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences (CATAS) from 2011–2019. In addition, project approval in the first-level and second-level disciplines of the life sciences departments with the largest number of projects has been studied in depth.

The ability of CAAS to obtain NSFC support is significantly stronger than that of CATAS or CAFS, and the development of disciplines is more comprehensive; CATAS and CAFS have distinct characteristics in the field of agricultural scientific research; CAFS is heavily dependent on the development of aquaculture, and aquaculture is involved before, during, and after production, forming a relatively complete industrial chain; CATAS focuses on tropical plants. In recent years, the number of youth fund projects of the three academies of science has declined significantly.

Since the 12th Five-Year Plan, the three academies of agricultural sciences have developed rapidly in the field of agricultural basic research. In terms of research direction, CAAS is more comprehensive, and the characteristics of CAFS and CATAS are more distinct. The three academies of agricultural sciences should focus on remain at the cutting edge of world agricultural science and technology, strengthen the cultivation of young talent, and shoulder the important tasks of China's agricultural science and technology innovation.