§3292 Partnerships to Build Capacity in International Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching

Summary

The Secretary may set up and support programs that link U.S. agricultural colleges and forestry schools with similar schools in developing countries. The law covers three kinds of U.S. land‑grant colleges (the “1862,” “1890,” and “1994” institutions as defined in section 7601), plus NLGCA institutions, Hispanic‑serving agricultural colleges, and cooperating forestry schools. A “developing country” is chosen by the Secretary using a gross national income per person test. An “international partner institution” is a foreign agricultural college or university in a developing country that does or wants to do research, extension, and teaching like the U.S. schools. Programs may fund many activities: sharing research materials and results; helping spread research through extension and start new extension work abroad; supporting joint research on food, nutrition, farming, forestry, livestock, and fisheries; strengthening national research systems in developing countries; backing education, degree and workforce training, and research collaborations; boosting student capacity and fair access for women and underserved groups; helping U.S. schools add international content to their teaching; running internships (coordinated by the Director of NIFA and the Administrator of the Foreign Agricultural Service); and offering fellowships for students to study at foreign agricultural schools. The goal is to make a real contribution to improving food and agriculture worldwide. Up to $10,000,000 per year was authorized for each fiscal year 2019 through 2023.