It has developed a range of vegetable varieties suitable for mid to high altitude.
DIBER has its origin as an "Agriculture Research Unit" (ARU) established by M.C.
Joshi who was also its first director in 1967 at Sitoli, Almora which was renamed to Pithoragarh-headquartered "Defence Agricultural Research Laboratory" (DARL) in 1984 and to DIBER in 2008.
[1] In 2020, with an intent to make the DRDO leaner and more effective, it was proposed to merge the "Defence Institute of Bio-Energy Research" (DIBER) with Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR).
[3] In 2020, Dr. Hemant Kumar Pandey, PhD, was awarded DRDO's "Scientist of the Year Award" by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh for his contribution in developing several herbal medicines, including the Lukoskin drug, a herbal concoction of 8 herbs found in Himalayan region, for treating leucoderma.