WSU professor Bruno Borsari will spend the next academic year in Panama, teaching and conducting research. Along with teaching students, Borsari will work with local farmers to develop curriculum and demonstrations on sustainable agronomy and other initiatives.
Bruno Borsari will be returning to his roots and learning about a new culture this coming academic year.
The Winona State University biology professor was named a Fulbright Scholar this year, the flagship international education exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government, to teach and conduct research into agricultural practices in Panama.
As a Fulbright scholar, Borsari will be teaching students at Panama’s Universidad Santa Maria La Antigua this fall and will research water conservation, sustainable agriculture and agroforestry by developing a curriculum and hosting field demonstrations for local Panamanian farmers.
Farmers in the country are looking to control erosion, deal with deforestation and find alternatives to expensive chemical inputs for their fields, Borsari said. Panama’s agriculture still relies heavily on small-scale, subsistence farming, and developing curriculum hand-in-hand with local farmers will help respect the culture while teaching best practices and methods by example.
Borsari compared the work to initiatives led by the University of Minnesota Extension or the Land Stewardship Project to teach farmers best practices and new techniques, hoping the farmers in turn will teach others.
“Everybody can come and ask questions with the expectation of replicating these practices somewhere else,” he said.
Borsari said work on his application to the scholar program began last year, and from the beginning the post in Panama intrigued him. Not only would it allow him to learn more about Latin American cultures, which he said share commonalities with his Italian heritage, but would also allow Borsari to return to his roots in agriculture.
Before joining WSU, Borsari taught and practiced farming, agroforestry and habitat restoration in various countries, mainly in west and central Africa. Borsari has also worked with Italian farmers to transition from conventional agriculture and adopt integrated pest management systems or pursue organic certification, and has worked in organic and sustainable agriculture in the U.S.
“My background is in agriculture,” Borsari said. “I enjoy having the opportunity to go back to that for two semesters and go back to what I enjoy doing the most: helping people acquire food security. It is something that enthuses me very much.”
As part of his application, Borsari said he worked with the university in Panama to find out what they were looking for in a Fulbright applicant, and got a letter of recommendation from the university. Borsari passed the first round of the application process in November and found out he was accepted in March.
After with working with the university and Panamanian farmers, Borsari said he hopes to come back to WSU next year and work on exchange programs including possible travel-study opportunities for students. There are a number of opportunities for partnerships, Borsari said, and he looks forward to pursuing them.
“This is really exciting,” he said. “The idea of the Fulbright is to bring U.S. culture overseas and exchange cultures. We could have a whole package for studying abroad in Panama for Winona