>Click to enlarge photo
| USDA's Merlyn Carlson during courtesy call with the U.S. Embassy's Chargé D'Affaires James Nealon, left, and A/Deputy Chief of Mission Linda Gonzalez, August 11, 2005. | |
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Merlyn Carlson, USDA Deputy Undersecretary
for Natural Resources and Environment, visited Uruguay to
meet with government officials and researchers. Carlson
is in the region to promote the use of new techniques to
encourage sustainable development, such as no tillage techniques
coupled with biotechnology to combat erosion and the loss
of nutrients in the soil.
Carlson, accompanied by FAS Counselor Bob
Hoff, FAS Assistant Maria Julia Balbi and APHIS Agricultural
Scientist Ricardo Romero, met with Uruguayan vice Minister
of Agriculture, Ing. Ernesto Agazzi, to discuss various
issues related to Environment. Topics including No-Till
and Sustainable Agriculture as a holistic system designed
to preserve the natural resources. Agazzi mentioned that
the Uruguayan agricultural system is based on a rotation
with crops and pastures, in addition to a 50% of the cropping
area under no-till, and represents an example on good practices
for sustainable agriculture.
A separate meeting was also held with the
National Institute for Agriculture Research (INIA) in the
"Las Brujas" experimental station. INIA´s
researchers emphasized on the importance of research on
sustainable agriculture and visited a field with an ongoing
experiment with no-till rotations crops. Carlson mentioned
that the USDA is concerned that there will be more pressure
on biomass production and research should focus on resolving
environmental issues related to no-till, in addition to
verify the economics of this technology. INIA's researches
were interested in a cooperative agreement with USDA and
agreed on sending to FAS a list of potential research topics
to address these issues.
Carlson stated that he learned a great deal
about the long standing commitment in Uruguay to sustainable
development.
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