Charles Sturt University (CSU) will host a new Food, Soil and Water Research Centre at its Port Macquarie campus after the Federal Government confirmed $5.9 million in funding.

The centre will be built as part of a new science precinct for the university, and will be used to improve the university’s capacity to undertake food, soil and water research with local, national and international partners.

Federal Tertiary Education Minister, Craig Emerson, said the establishment of the new centre will come at a timely point in a broad area of research.

"The quest for food security is one of the defining features of the 21st Century," Dr Emerson said.

"This new centre will contribute to research in vital areas such as environmental sustainability, soil quality, water management and industry transformation."

The project will be developed in partnership with the Port Macquarie-Hastings Council by 2015 with a $5.9 million investment from the Federal Government.

One of the key roles of the centre will be to support collaboration between Charles Sturt University and the Council on the effects of recent flooding of agricultural land and the resulting contamination of food chains in the region.