{"id":4935,"date":"2006-08-01T12:15:19","date_gmt":"2006-08-01T16:15:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/?p=4935"},"modified":"2014-11-14T16:04:16","modified_gmt":"2014-11-14T21:04:16","slug":"workshop-takes-a-tropical-twist-farmer-to-farmer-program-connects-with-tropical-agricultural-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/2006\/08\/workshop-takes-a-tropical-twist-farmer-to-farmer-program-connects-with-tropical-agricultural-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Workshop takes a tropical twist: Farmer-to-Farmer program connects with tropical agricultural research."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #002d61;\"><strong><\/strong><strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Tropical fruit production and research take place in the two geographic extremes of the United States: South Florida, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands in the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean region; and Hawaii and Guam in the Pacific Basin.<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/business.fiu.edu\/newsletters\/BusinessNetworks\/August2006\/images\/bn10.jpg\" alt=\"\" hspace=\"8\" vspace=\"8\" width=\"230\" height=\"289\" align=\"left\" \/><\/p>\n<p>While they face many of the same challenges, researchers in both regions had never come together in a single forum\u2014not until the three-day Tropical Fruit Production and Handling Workshop held at the Holiday Inn Port of Miami on July 6-8, 2006.<\/p>\n<p>The event sponsor was the Tropical and Subtropical Agriculture Research (T-STAR) program, which is funded by the Cooperative State Research Education and Extension Service (CSREES) within the U. S. Department of Agriculture.<\/p>\n<p>Discussion focused on research accomplishments and projected research needs to establish priorities that will best serve the tropical fruit industries of both regions. Among the invited speakers was <strong>Carmen  Algeciras<\/strong>, (MIB \u201903, BBA \u201901), director, John Ogonowski Farmer-to-Farmer  program in the college.<\/p>\n<p><em>Presentation  focuses on FTF program\u2019s accomplishments and Central American research needs.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Addressing an audience of more than fifty scientists and agricultural researchers, Algeciras provided an overview of the FTF program, detailing its goals and research priorities as well as current challenges and regional constraints.<\/p>\n<table border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"5\" width=\"135\" align=\"right\" bgcolor=\"#f4f4f4\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/business.fiu.edu\/newsletters\/BusinessNetworks\/August2006\/images\/bn12.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"120\" height=\"156\" \/><br \/>\n<span>Carmen Algeciras<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>According to Algeciras, the FTF program has completed more than 187 projects related to tropical horticulture since its 2003 inception, including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>design of an informational system for national  and international tropical fruit markets<\/li>\n<li>development of light jam and marmalades with  tropical fruits<\/li>\n<li>processing tropical fruits<\/li>\n<li>mango flower production and induction<\/li>\n<li>development of fruit shelf-life and index  methodologies<\/li>\n<li>training in fruit fly control<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cWe  plan to complete an additional 139 projects through the Latin American region  over the next two years,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p><em>Workshop  spurs momentum for ongoing research and discussion<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Algeciras believes that the workshop accomplished its goals, which were to promote the exchange of information and data on current research programs, to prioritize critical research areas for joint projects, to encourage development and submission of joint inter-regional grant applications, and to stimulate the publishing of joint research.<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/business.fiu.edu\/newsletters\/BusinessNetworks\/August2006\/images\/bn11.jpg\" alt=\"\" hspace=\"8\" vspace=\"8\" width=\"230\" height=\"289\" align=\"left\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe event encouraged the synthesis of research in this area with a clear focus on the needs of producers throughout Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Pacific Basin,\u201d Algeciras said. \u201cIt also provided an excellent opportunity for showcasing the college\u2019s FTF program and for making valuable new connections.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One immediate result: Algeciras has been invited to be a speaker at the upcoming 52nd Annual Inter-American Society for Tropical Horticulture in Puerto Rico.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter my presentation, I had the chance to talk with many people who wanted to discuss potential opportunities to collaborate with the college\u2019s FTF program and who also showed an interest in volunteering in the program,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Workshop host T-STAR brings together scientists and researchers in this field from the University of Florida, University of Puerto Rico, University of the Virgin Islands, University of Hawaii, and University of Guam. The program is designed to strengthen the research capabilities and economies of the tropical and subtropical areas in the United States.<\/p>\n<p>The Farmer-to-Farmer program, which falls under the umbrella of the Knight Ridder Center for Excellence in Management and the Eugenio Pino and Family Global Entrepreneurship Center, both centers in the college, is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).<\/p>\n<p>To learn more about the  Farmer-to-Farmer program, visit <a href=\"http:\/\/entrepreneurship.fiu.edu\/usaid\/\">http:\/\/entrepreneurship.fiu.edu\/usaid\/<\/a>.  For more details about participating, contact Carmen Algeciras, program  director, at 305-348-0399 or <a href=\"mailto:algecira@fiu.edu\">algecira@fiu.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tropical fruit production and research take place in the two geographic extremes of the United States: South Florida, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands in the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean region; and Hawaii and Guam in the Pacific Basin. While they face many of the same challenges, researchers in both regions had never come together [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[346,1516,2602],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4935"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/71"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4935"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4935\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24396,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4935\/revisions\/24396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}