USAID Tropical Soybean for Development Workshop

Photo featuring Dr. Randall Nelson who is speaking with International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) researchers in Malawi.
Dr. Randall Nelson speaks with International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) researchers in Malawi.

Event Information

Soybean is a non-native crop that is new to practitioners and farmers in the tropics, especially to the current agricultural portfolios of small and medium holders. Challenges exist for research, extension, non-governmental organization, and private sector practitioners as they introduce soybean to the farmers in Africa. The USAID Tropical Soybean for Development Workshop focused on the needs of soybean practitioners to become successful soybean developers. For more information about the workshop, please visit http://soybeaninnovationlab.illinois.edu/tropical-soybean-development-workshop.

This webinar event featured three of the workshop’s morning sessions and allowed time for the online audience to ask questions after each of the presentations. Sessions included:

  • 9:00-9:45 am Keynote Address, Soybean for Development as a USAID Research Priority (Dr. Robert Bertram, Chief Scientist, USAID Bureau of Food Security);
  • 9:45-10:30 am Economics of Tropical Soybean for Development (Dr. Peter Goldsmith, University of Illinois); and,
  • 10:30-11:15 am Getting the Horse before the Cart: Critical Steps that Enable Successful Seed Scaling (Mike Robinson, Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture).

Speakers

Robert Bertram

Headshot of Rob Bertram

United States Agency for International Development

Rob Bertram is Acting Director for USAID’s Bureau for Food Security Office of Agriculture Research and Transformation. He came to the position after serving as the Director of the Office of Environment & Science Policy in the Bureau of Economic Growth, Agriculture and Trade. Dr. Bertram has worked for USAID for more than 20 years. He comes from a plant breeding and genetics background, with degrees from UC Davis, the University of Minnesota and the University of Maryland. His doctoral work focused on molecular techniques in assessing plant genetic resources and evolution in the genus, which includes cassava. His work includes building stronger research ties between the US research community (especially universities and USDA) and the international centers, and research partners in Europe and Japan. He has been active for many years in plant genetic resources policy, having served on the CGIAR Genetic Resources Policy Committee and as a technical advisor during the negotiation of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources. He chaired the FAO Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture from 2002 to 2004.

Peter Goldsmith

Headshot of Peter Goldsmith

Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Soybean Value Chain Research

Peter Goldsmith serves as the Principal Investigator for the USAID Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Soybean Value Chain Research (Soybean Innovation Lab). Pete is also a faculty member at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics. Peter’s research interest is agro-industrial marketing. Specific topics include: adaptation processes and strategy,biotechnology, food safety, the Brazilian and Argentinean agribusiness complex, and large-scale livestock and grain firms.

Mike Robinson

Syngenta Foundation

Mike Robinson is Chief Scientific Adviser for the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture. Mike has over 20 years of R&D experience in industrial biosciences and, more recently, biofuels technologies, renewable energy, and carbon accounting in agriculture. Previously, he worked as Senior Technology Analyst for the Syngenta Corporate Strategy & Technology group. He has been involved in the establishment and project management of several global collaborative research programs with academic and commercial organizations. Mike holds a PhD and graduated from Nottingham and Leeds Universities and Rothamsted Experimental Station in the UK.

Event Registration Information

Spotlight Event

Online and In-person Event
United States

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