Professor and Extension Postharvest Specialist Steven Sargent gave an invited talk at the III Brazilian Congress for Fresh-Cut and Postharvest of Fruits, Flowers and Vegetables, held September 10-13 at the University of São Paulo, ESALQ. His topic was “International Extension: Experiences and Thoughts from Local to the World”. He highlighted his experiences conducting applied research with his M.S. and doctoral students in their home countries of Haiti and Tanzania. He also described the connection between UF/IFAS Extension and Emater-DF, the Extension agency responsible for the Federal District of Brasilia and the USAID-funded Trilateral Program between UF, Embrapa and the Ministry of Agriculture in Mozambique.
The Congress, organized by Professors Ricardo Kluge and Angelo Jacomino, of the Crop Science Department, was a tremendous success. There were more than 350 participants from 23 Brazilian states and 6 countries who represented 83 research and teaching institutions and companies. Undergraduate and graduate students presented 275 research posters. A special segment of the program honored three of the founding academic “pillars” of postharvest horticulture in Brazil, Professors José Fernando Durigan and Adimilson Bosco Chitarra (both deceased) and Professor Rolf Puschmann. Their contributions to the training of graduate students led to the expansion of this area in colleges and universities throughout Brazil and at UF during the past 40 years.
