On May 30th, 2014, Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture (USP/ESALQ) received a Dutch delegation coordinated by Peter Zuurbier, Director of International Relations for Latin America and Caribbean, Wageningen University. This visit aimed at strengthening ties for research projects within the active agreement between Wageningen University and ESALQ. The delegation was received by the President of the International Relations Committee (CAInt) and ESALQ Vice-dean, Marisa Aparecida Bismara Regitano d'Arce, who went to the Netherlands between May 13th and 22nd to discuss the agreement between both universtities set up in 2007 and due in 2017.
Besides Zuurbier, the delegation of Wageningen University included Petra Schlooz, International Relations Assistant for Latin America and Caribbean; Cecilia Stanghellini, Crop Science Researcher; Henry Boerrigter, Crop Science Business Director; and Eelke Westra, Crop Science Researcher. On May 29th, all of them conducted the seminar ‘Innovations in horticulture’, organized by Hortitec in Holambra (Sao Paulo State, Brazil), which included a lecture addressing horticulture with emphasis on productivity, seed technology, pest control, water management, post-harvest, logistics and loss reduction.
At ESALQ, the delegation visited the Postharvest Handling of Horticultural Crops Lab, coordinated by Professor Angelo Pedro Jacomino, and the Imaging Analysis Laboratory, led by Professor Silvio Moure Cicero, both ESALQ faculty members in the Crop Science Department (LPV).
According to Marisa d'Arce, ESALQ took the opportunity of the researchers' visit to Brazil to extend an invitation for them to come to the School. “There is a great potential for cooperation between the two institutions. Thus, as we knew they were coming to the XXI Hortitec, a technical exhibition on horticulture, protected cultivation and intensive farming held in Holambra, we took the opportunity to make this invitation. It was amazing to see their willingness to travel from Holambra to Piracicaba,” said CAInt director. According to Marisa d'Arce, each year ESALQ sends ten students to Wageningen University. These students are provided with tax exemption, in accordance with the agreement between both institutions and with Branetec scholarship, an exchange program funded by CAPES. “We have achieved a very promising relationship with Wageningen, because now students can plan to study in the best agriculture college in the Netherlands,” she added.
The coordinator of the Dutch delegation said that the researchers came here to discuss new initiatives, while enhancing the existing Wageningen-ESALQ relationship, which already includes international undergraduate and graduate students. “We have a great Horticulture project and cutting-edge technology. We need to share these experiences. Together we will try to identify new joint research projects and training. Our main purpose is to discuss the basis for joint training, in which our instituitions could offer training to the private sector horticulture in Brazil,” said Zuurbier.
Wageningen University
Wageningen University is the only university in the Netherlands to focus specifically on the theme ‘healthy food and living environment’. Its mission is ‘To explore the potential of nature to improve the quality of life’. Wageningen University develops reserarch on climate change, unhealthy lifestyles, the continued pressure on our natural environment, and animal welfare. Wageningen has locations throughout the Netherlands. In 2013 students ranked Wageningen as the best university in the Reference Guide for Higher Education in the Netherlands for the ninth year in a row. Source: http://www.wageningenur.nl/
