Florida University students visit ESALQ


Students from Florida University visited research laboratories and debated the production of vegetables in Brazil 

Visits to the laboratories of College of Agriculture “Luiz de Queiroz” and lectures about the vegetable production chain in Brazil. This was the script of a group composed by 10 students from University of Florida and executives from HM Clause, a multinational of seed sector, that came to ESALQ/USP on July 29th. “The activity is part of the first edition, in Brazil, of the Challenge 2050 Program, which makes partnerships with Brazilian universities to discuss about integrated solutions and identification of potential professionals that may become part of the company staff”, says Eduardo Albonico, director of HM Clause in Brazil.

In total, 80 students participated in the Program. Those students look for solutions to improve the quality of the agricultural activity, ensuring, then, the offer of food to a growing population. “So they may learn, with the current problems, to make the world a better place”, says Ana Luiza Fraisse, trainee in Human Resources of the company and participant of the first edition of Challenge 2050.

AT ESALQ – In the morning, the North-American team was received by the Professor Heloisa Lee Burnquist, who represented the Board of Directors and the Committee of International Relations. After that, they met laboratories and experimental area of the Crop Science Department, accompanied by the Professors Paulo Hercílio Viegas Rodrigues, Simone da Costa Mello e Paulo Cesar Tavares de Melo. In the afternoon, they visited the Laboratory of Technology and Beverages Quality (destilary), from the Agri-food Industry, Food and Nutrition Department, where were welcomed by Professor André Ricardo Alcarde and by the agricultural engineer and Master Degree candidate in Food Technology in Alcoholic Beverages, Arthur Paron da Silva. Then, they attend a lecture by Professor Paulo Cesar Tavares de Melo about the Vegetable Production Chain in Brazil. Melo also coordinated a group dynamic about the challenges of the vegetable production. “The visit of this group is essential, because then we may build bridges with one the world leaders in the area of seeds for vegetables, and, at the same time, give to those students the chance to take conscience about the Brazilian agriculture and then project big dimension actions, taking into account the scarcity of water and labor force, the land degeneration and the need of sustainable crops, as the protected crops, for example”, commented the Professor.

According to Albonico, before visiting ESALQ/USP, the students visited some agricultural properties aiming to know the problems of our agriculture. “This visit to Brazil will be essential for them to then discuss the Brazilian agricultural reality when back in University of Florida. For this, we also counted with the great reception that we had at ESALQ, which gave us administrative support and showed its working method, the interation with other foreign universities and projects lined with the world future goals”. At ESALQ, the actions were coordinated by the International Office.

Written by: Caio Albuquerque
Translated by: Giovanni Augusto Rocha
Proofread by: Alexandre Joviniano dos Santos
Photo by: Sandra Liege Renner Fatoretto
Acom (ESALQ’s Office of Communications)
July 29th, 2015