Extension

By Job Vigil, North Platte Telegraph

Their journey began with a love for their country and a love for learning about agriculture. It continues with an opportunity that brought Hope Nakabuye and Abia Katimbo to study at the University of Nebraska’s West Central Research, Extension, and Education Center in North Platte.

The students from Uganda are working toward their master’s and doctoral degrees in irrigation studies. Although they did not meet until coming to the WCREEC, they come from the same district and tribe.

Both in the U.S. and abroad, the National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC) strives to help reduce the impact of drought on people, the environment and the economy.

The center takes the "ounce of prevention" adage seriously, advocating for the development of risk planning and management as the key to resilience in the face of drought, specifically in the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA) region.

This is a continuation of our "IANR is Global" series, which highlights the many ways internationalization is woven through the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources: through research collaboration, government and private industry partnerships, extension work, student educational experiences and beyond.

By Lana Koepke Johnson

September 26, 2018

Lincoln, Neb. — Richard Ferguson has been named vice chancellor for the Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture (RICA), effective Jan. 1, 2019.

Opening in July 2019, the RICA is an English language institution dedicated to educating and inspiring a new generation of innovators in agriculture in Rwanda. Establishing the Institute is a joint effort of the Government of Rwanda and the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, with the University of Nebraska–Lincoln providing leadership in curriculum development and technical advising.

XI’AN, CHINA – Today, Governor Pete Ricketts applauded the news that the Nebraska (Yangling) Agricultural Sci-Tech Park is fully operational.  The 200-hectare project, also known as a demonstration farm, is located in the Yangling Hi-Tech Agricultural Demonstration Zone west of Xi’an in Nebraska’s sister province, Shaanxi.  Governor Ricketts broke ground on the Yangling demonstration farm during his 2016 trade mission to China.

Andrew Zimbroff, assistant professor and extension specialist in the Department of Textiles, Merchandising & Fashion Design, has been selected for a Fulbright Scholar Award to Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ) in Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil from Sept. 1-Dec. 31. During his time at ESALQ, a unit of the University of San Paulo, Zimbroff will be teaching, researching and promoting innovative agribusiness entrepreneurship.

Agriculture and natural resources have a unique place in Nebraska and provide the foundation for a number of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s international partnerships and initiatives.  The Office of Global Engagement in the Institute of Agriculture & Natural Resources (IANR) coordinates the university’s international engagement across these key themes and across IANR’s land-grant mission of education, research and extension.

Sustainably intensifying agriculture to feed a growing world is a goal that nations worldwide share.

For the sixth consecutive summer, undergraduate students from Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University (NWAFU) in Yangling, China conducted research under the mentorship of over 90 University of Nebraska-Lincoln faculty. One element of a long term, multi-pronged relationship with the Chinese university, the exchange, or "REU program," has been a successful one, meaningfully engaging over 115 students from the university in the course of the program's tenure and often attracting them to join graduate programs at UNL.