Vegetable and Plant Protection Scientists from China Visit UF Campus
Chinese Vegetable Specialists Visit UF/IFAS
UF/IFAS hosted a delegation of high-level vegetable science researchers and administrators in mid-October 2007, under the auspices of the Scientific and Technical Exchange Agreement between USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service and the People’s Republic of China. The purpose of their visit was to foster trade and scientific exchange in the area of vegetable crop production.
The delegation, which included four men and two women, consisted of Li Jianwei, Deputy Division Chief of China’s National Agro-Tech Extension and Service Center; Li Enpu, Division Chief, Department of Crop Production of MOA; Ren Huazhong, Assistant Professor and Interpreter, China Agricultural University; Jin Changlin, Researcher with the Department of Agriculture of Zhejiang Province; Liu Yanfei, Agronomist, Beijing Agro-Tech Extension Station; and Cheng Zilin, Director of the Tianjin Vegetable Tech-Extension Station.
The group met with Drs. Dan Cantliffe, Chair of Horticultural Science; John VanSickle, Director of UF/IFAS’ International Trade and Policy Center; Steve Sargent, UF/IFAS Horticultural Sciences Department, specializing in post-harvest technology; David Sammons, UF/IFAS International Programs Director; and Walter Bowen, UF/IFAS International Programs Assistant Director. The meetings discussed U.S. and Chinese vegetable science technologies and the excellent potential for cooperative research projects.
After these meetings, the delegation toured the Plant Science Research and Education Unit, where they met with Research Coordinator William "Buck" Nelson and research scientist Nicole Shaw, who works with Dan Cantliffe in the high-tech hydroponic greenhouses at Citra. A substantial tour of the facilities at Citra garnered much interest, particularly in the walking irrigation systems, plastic mulching techniques, research into tomato leaf-curl virus, and Cantliffe’s hydroponic greenhouses. In turn, Cantliffe and Shaw were interested in the Chinese greenhouse technology that allows production to continue even during zero-degree-Fahrenheit weather.
On the following day, the delegation visited the Gulf Coast Research and Education Center at Balm, where they met with Dr. Jack Rechcigl, Center Director, and his staff of vegetable crops research faculty before touring the REC. The delegation ended the afternoon with a tour of BBI Produce, Inc., a strawberry production farm and packing house operation near Gulf Coast REC. The group’s interpreter said that they particularly appreciated the chance to visit production and research farms, as the other land-grant institutions they had visited limited their tours to laboratories. The potential for future collaboration with these six scientists is very high, as interest for joint projects was high amongst both the Chinese visitors and UF/IFAS faculty.
Chinese Plant Protection Specialists Visit UF Campus
A second delegation from China, comprised of plant protection scientists, was scheduled to visit UF/IFAS on November 2nd. Sponsored under the same USDA/Beijing, China program, the group was interested in plant protection technologies, crop disease and pest forecasting methods, quarantine facilities, Extension programs and methods for plant protection, and information exchange on plant protection and forecasting.
Unfortunately, they were not able to meet with UF/IFAS faculty as originally planned, as their one-day visit to Gainesville, Florida coincided with the “UF Homecoming” holiday that closed the university. So IFAS International Programs contacted the United States Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS). Personnel in the USDA-ARS Center for Medical, Agricultural, and Veterinary Entomology (CMAVE), housed on the UF campus, graciously volunteered to host the visitors, instead.
Dr. Peter Teal, Research Leader for the Chemistry Research Unit, and the members of his unit spoke to the visitors about the work they are doing. Representatives from CMAVE’s other three units, the Behavior and Biocontrol Research Unit; the Mosquito and Fly Research Unit; and the Household Insects and Imported Fire Ant Research Unit, also met with the Chinese entomologists and spoke about the work their units are doing. Bonnie Ebel in the CMAVE director’s office assisted with key logistics for the visit.
Contact: David Sammons
