Universidad de la Salle

New Mexico State University - NMSU and Universidad de La Salle received a 100k Strong in the Americas grant for the development of a faculty-led program, "Utopia: Leveraging the Advancement of Rural Irrigation Systems in Cocoa Plantations." Five students and a faculty member from Universidad de La Salle visited NMSU for 10 days to learn about irrigation design, management and digital agriculture. Five NMSU students and a faculty member will travel to Colombia in May to learn about a cocoa production system.

Knowledge gained under this faculty-led program will add to the region's agricultural development expertise and will promote social inclusion. Alumni will implement the knowledge gained in their own entrepreneurship projects and disseminate the information to a variety of constituents. The NMSU team consists of professor Blair Stringam, teaching coordinator, and Maria Alvarez, graduate student. The co-prinicipal investigators on the grant are Libardo Gutierrez Mengual from Colombia and Manoj Shukla from NMSU.

The core funding support for this project is through the 100,000 Strong in the Americas Innovation Fund and its partners, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Agency for International Development, along with the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs at U.S. Department of State and U.S. Mission-Colombia, as part of the dynamic public-private sector collaboration between WHA/DOS and Partners of the Americas, working with companies, foundations, regional government entities, and academic networks in the United States and the rest of the Western Hemisphere to create innovative, sustainable partnerships that provide access to new models of academic exchange and training programs in the Americas. Learn more and join the Innovation Network at; 

Source: New Mexico State University - Marketing and Communications.