Royal projects fall into two categories: Royally Initiated and Royally Assisted. With the former, His Majesty conducts (and often funds) research into new development areas. For the latter, he identifies worthwhile projects already underway in the Kingdom and provides technical and financial assistance to ensure their success.

His prime concern has been to secure new water resources and preserve existing supplies. Although Thailand enjoys high rainfall, the precipitation is not evenly distributed. As a result, the Kingdom fluctuates between over-abundance and drought depending on locale and season. The challenge is to preserve water against run-off to the sea, to create new sources (rainmaking), and to channel it where it is most needed. It also requires improving irrigation efficiency so that precious water is not lost on the way to the fields, or contributes to erosion.

Farming has become more complex with scores of crops never before grown. In the same manner as water is recycled and multi-purposed, His Majesty pursues the concept of Integrated Farming wherein the waste product from one process becomes the raw materials for another.

He also searches for new crops that can bring added income to farm families and researches ways in which unproductive land can be made fruitful. As a result, the past four decades have seen an increase in the land area devoted to farming and an impressive increase in the number, variety, and yields of crops grown.