
Read the
magazine
story to find out more. U.S.-Brazil
Research Partnership Paying Off for Both CountriesBy Kim
Kaplan December 4, 2001Labex , a successful, growing
collaboration between the Agricultural
Research Service and a partner from Brazil, promises a range of
agricultural benefits for both countries. The Labex program, proposed by ARSs Brazilian counterpart Empresa
Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuaria (EMBRAPA), is proving to be a fruitful
collaboration. Labex is a Portuguese term for Virtual Lab, so named
because the program is a laboratory that exists only as a concept, without any
lab buildings of its own. Central to the program is bringing Brazilian scientists to ARS laboratories
for two- to three-year terms and pairing them with appropriate ARS partners.
Unlike many cooperative programs that focus on post-doctoral training, the
Brazilian researchers in this program are all senior scientists. Labex also
encourages other formal and informal exchanges between scientists of the two
research services. Active only since 1998, the program is already paying off in research
results in integrated pest management, precision agriculture, soil science and
genetic research. For example, Labex is facilitating cooperative work to find
genetic resistance to internal parasites in cattle, which would be welcome in
both countries. Internal parasites cost the beef and dairy industries $2
billion annually in the United States alone. Another collaborating team is developing better biocontrols for the stink
bug, a major pest of soybeans in both Brazil and the United States. The team
has already identified a more complete pheromone blend to attract neotropical
brown stink bugs, making it possible to monitor fields for the pests
appearance so pesticide use can be narrowly targeted. They have also developed
an effective trap design to go with the pheromone lure, for which they are
currently seeking commercial producers. Brazil proposed the Labex program because the country saw itself and the
United States as natural partners in agricultural research, with many similar
agricultural and environmental problems to solve. Both are also world leaders
in agricultural research and technology. To learn more about this research, see a more detailed story in the
December issue ofAgricultural Research magazine, which is online at: ARS is the U.S. Department of
Agriculture's chief scientific research agency. U.S. Department of Agriculture |