The Universidad Nacional Toribio Rodriguez de Mendoza de Amazonas (UNTRM) was selected to participate in partnerships with educational institutions in the USA. Sponsored by an Innovation Fund Grant from 100,000 Strong in the Americas.

The team of the Faculty of Engineering and Agricultural Sciences of the UNTRM is integrated by researchers Juan Carlos Guerrero Abad, Antonio Tacilla Villanueva and Manuel Oliva Cruz, who will work with professors and students of University of New Hampshire (UNH) in USA.

The project presented by the UNTRM and UNH entitled “High-Altitude Agriculture: Sustainable Crop Production under Plastic Tunnels in the Andes” establishes a new partnership encouraging the marginalized students from the Andean and Amazonian regions to develop theoretical-practical skills in crop management and improve their language skills in English and Spanish.

The partnership will allow for a valuable exchange of culture and research, opening the opportunity for both students and faculty to share and develop knowledge and understanding of Andean crop physiology and genetic improvement. The first research program will focus on crop production under plastic tunnels and will lead to additional research projects and greater mobility of students and faculty as this new partnership takes shape.

The higher education partnership also will include exchange programs that will give students opportunities to work in teams in both countries, gain technical and linguistic skills, and become more competent for today’s global workforce.

All grant-winning teams will create new student exchange and training opportunities in the fields of environmental science, water resource management, science, engineering and mathematics.

“We’re very excited about the opportunity for this cross-cultural exchange and are hoping that students from UNH and from Peru benefit from getting to know one another and the opportunities that exist in each other’s countries,” says Policarpio Chauca Valqui, President of the UNTRM.