Training and Capacity Building

FAS offers a wide range of technical assistance, education and outreach programs for emerging markets and developing countries that are designed to support the development of science-based regulatory policies and promote food security. Some of the activities include:

• Overseas Biotech Training/Education Program

• Cochran Fellowship Program Biotechnology Training

• Biotechnology Short Courses

• Capacity Building for the Seed Industry

• Biotechnology Research Capacity Building

• Biotechnology Activities With International Organizations

Overseas Biotech Training/Education Program

Through seminars and educational materials, FAS is coordinating overseas outreach activities to build regulatory and institutional capacities and educate a variety of foreign audiences on issues surrounding agricultural biotechnology production, consumption, and trade.

Cochran Fellowship Program Biotechnology Training

USDA's Cochran Fellowship Program (CFP) provides short-term U.S. training to demonstrate the benefits of biotechnology in agriculture, and to give participants information about the U.S. regulatory system and how that system safeguards agriculture, food, and the environment.
— Success Stories

Biotechnology Short Courses

FAS, in cooperation with Michigan State University, initiated a short course series on biotechnology in October 2002 to help foreign leaders play an informed and guiding role regarding biotechnology in their home countries. It is offered four times per year, for 25–30 participants each time. Participants are from local and national government bodies, private industry, the media, non-governmental organizations, and universities. There are sessions on the science of biotechnology, but the course primarily focuses on biotechnology's relationship to market access and trade in agricultural products, and the factors influencing that relationship. The two-week program is split between a core training curriculum and specialized training tailored to the specific interests of the participants. The core training covers such topics as research and development, biotech regulations, international organizations, global economy, marketing and consumers, and food security and technical assistance. The course includes activities in Washington, DC, and at Michigan State University, as well as field visits in California.

Capacity Building for the Seed Industry

FAS cooperates with the American Seed Trade Association to implement a project designed to expand U.S. seed trade with Eastern Europe, Africa, and Asia. By promoting privatization of the seed sector and addressing trade issues such as seed quality assurance, variety registration, and intellectual property systems, this program is cultivating international markets for U.S. seed technologies, including seeds enhanced through the use of biotechnology.

Biotechnology Research Capacity Building

FAS's overseas biotechnology research capacity building activities support the development of science-based regulatory programs, assist in the commercialization of biotechnology products, and promote global food security. Some of the programs include:

• The FAS Scientific Cooperation Research Program (SCRP), which supports collaboration between U.S. and foreign scientists, frequently used agricultural biotechnology to help solve mutual problems through basic, applied, and policy research. For example, in FY 2002, USDA and Chinese peanut breeders began a project to use biotechnology to increase aflatoxin resistance in peanuts. Another new project links U.S., Indonesian, and Dutch scientists, who are utilizing biotechnology to improve detection and identification of seed-borne bacterial pathogens.
  
  

• FAS provides financing and technical advice to the International Cooperative Biodiversity Groups (ICBG), an initiative led by the National Institutes of Health. This program supports multi-disciplinary teams to research the conservation of genetic resources, prospect for natural products, and promote economic development at regions with high biological diversity. ICBG's public-private partnerships for the development of agricultural and medical biotechnology are building important technical capacities in participating countries to manage and commercialize biological resources and biotechnology.
  
  

• FAS manages additional collaborative research projects through the Joint Fund for Scientific and Technical Cooperation, sponsored by the U.S. State Department, for activities in Eastern Europe, and through Local Currency Programs, which are funded with foreign currencies generated from P.L. 480-authorized sales of U.S. farm products abroad. An example project that involves biotechnology and molecular genetics is Molecular tagging and precise transfer of rust and Karnal bunt resistance from non-progenitor Aegilops species into cultivated wheats (1998-2003). This project involves cooperation between the United States and India to transfer genetic leaf rust, stripe rust, and Karnal bunt-resistance to cultivated wheats through induced homoeologous pairing.
  
  

• In Egypt, with funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development, FAS is managing a suite of collaborative research projects that link scientists from Egyptian, U.S., and Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) institutions. Several of the projects apply molecular genetics and microsattelite markers to identify desirable characteristics in rice, wheat, maize, and faba bean varieties. Another activity, funded by the U.S.–Egypt Science and Technology Joint Board, supports work by U.S. and Egyptian scientists on agricultural biotechnology. Since 1995, about 40 collaborative biotechnology projects (approximately $50,000 each) have been funded.

FAS conducts an array of programs aimed at building support for science-based biotechnology policies and standards among international and regional bodies.