From May 13 to 15, 2025, FONTAGRO, in collaboration with the University of Florida and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), held a successful workshop titled “Strategic Dialogues for the Future: Advancing Agricultural Science to Deliver Societal Value in LAC and the U.S.” This event brought together more than 80 representatives from various academic institutions, companies, and funding organizations, focusing on sustainability and technological innovation in the agri-food sector.

With the support of FONTAGRO’s Board of Directors, the workshop marked the beginning of a new phase in the creation of a Medium-Term Plan 2025-2030. Key partnerships have been established with five prestigious universities in the United States: the University of Florida, Clemson University, Cornell University, North Carolina State University, and The Ohio State University. These collaborations are designed to facilitate investment in research, development, and innovation in the agri-food sector.

During the sessions, investment priorities in R&D&I needed to address the current and future challenges facing agriculture were discussed. Leaders from important organizations such as the Meat Institute, ICARDA; International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas, the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF), Corteva Agriscience, Western Growers Center for Innovation & Technology, GRUPO CAJAMAR, Embrapa, the GAP Initiative at Virginia Tech, and UF Innovative participated in these discussions, identifying key trends in science and technology that will enable the transformation of agri-food systems in Latin America, the Caribbean, and beyond.

The leadership of FONTAGRO’s Board of Directors, representing the 15 National Agricultural Research Institutes of member countries, reaffirms the organization’s commitment to creating public-private institutional ecosystems that promote sustainable development in the agri-food sector.

Learn more at: https://digital.fontagro.org/en/medium-term-plan-2025-2030-en/

 

 

***

About FONTAGRO

FONTAGRO was created 1998 with the purpose of promoting the increase of the competitiveness of the agri-food sector, ensuring the sustainable management of natural resources and the reduction of poverty in the region. The objective of FONTAGRO is to establish itself as a sustainable financing mechanism for the development of agricultural technology and innovation in Latin America and the Caribbean and Spain, and to establish a forum for the discussion of priority topics of technological innovation. The member countries are: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Spain, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela. In the last 27 years 204 regional agricultural innovation platforms have been co-financed for an amount of US $ 150.7 million, which has reached 531 institutions and 35 countries worldwide.