Universidad de la Salle

As part of the project "Diversifying the Cacao Landscape: Knowledge and Technology Transfer to Contribute to the Food System in Colombia", funded by the 100K Strong in the Americas initiative, students from the Utopía program at Universidad de La Salle (Unisalle) are visiting the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) this week to participate in a rich academic exchange and learning experience.

This program, developed jointly by Unisalle, UC Davis, and the International University of the American Tropic (Unitrópico), aims to address the challenges faced by cocoa producers in Colombia through the agroecological redesign of production systems and knowledge exchange via international mobility. Its goal is to train young rural leaders who can actively contribute to food security and the sustainability of agricultural systems both within their communities and globally.

The Colombian students' visit to UC Davis is part of the second phase of the project, which includes hands-on learning in the field and in the lab. During their stay, participants will apply knowledge gained during a previous virtual course, interact with international experts, engage in real-world agricultural practices, and strengthen their community-based research skills.

The delegation was accompanied by Dr. Ana María Castro, Director of the PhD Program in Agrosciences at Universidad de La Salle and lead faculty member of the project, along with Libardo Gutiérrez Mengual, Director of International and Interinstitutional Relations at Unisalle. In parallel, a strategic agenda of institutional engagement was carried out, which included high-level meetings with UC Davis authorities such as Dr. Joanna Regulska, Vice Provost and Dean of Global Affairs, and Dr. Ermias Kebreab, Associate Vice Chancellor for International Programs in Agriculture and Natural Resources. These meetings aimed to strengthen academic cooperation and advance the formalization of a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two institutions.

This innovative project highlights the participating institutions’ commitment to training professionals capable of leading agroecological transformations and contributing to fairer, more sustainable food systems.

The core funding support for "Diversifying the Cacao Landscape: Knowledge and Technology Transfer to Contribute to the Food System in Colombia" is through the 100,000 Strong in the Americas Innovation Fund and its partners, Grupo Energía Bogotá (GEB), Fundación Santo Domingo (FSD), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), 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 https://www.100kstrongamericas.org/  

About Utopía 

The Utopía program at Universidad de La Salle is a pioneering initiative in the education of rural Colombian youth, combining high-quality academic training in agricultural engineering with the development of skills for the social transformation of their territories.