The India Gateway. College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Activities.

• President Gee and CFAES representatives visit to India.   The India Global Gateway initiative was born of OSU President Gordon Gee's trip to India in 2009.  Dr Gee was accompanied by Dr. Bobby Moser, CFAES Dean and Professor Rattan Lal, School of Environment & Natural Resources.   Dr. Lal, a world renowned soil scientist, was awarded the prestigious M.S. Swaminathan Award during this trip.   The award recognized his important contributions to agricultural and rural development in India.  He represents a relatively large group of Indian scientists and educators on the OSU campus who form an important bridge to Indian academia, society and culture and to its economy.  During the trip the delegation also met with Mr. Timothy J. Roemer, U.S. Ambassador to India, and Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil, President of India; Shri Kapil Sibal, Minister of Higher Education; Shri Prithviraj Chavan, Minister of Science and Technology, and Dr. Mangala Rai, Director General of the Indian Council for Agricultural Research. 
• India Natural Resources Management Project- Bio-fuels and integrated Watershed Management.   The M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation ⁄ Sir Jamsetji Tata Trust Fund sponsor this project on the use of existing watershed resources to increase rural income while conserving the natural resource base.   At five sites in India - two in Chennai, Orissa, Madya Pradesh, and Punjab,  CFAES scientists are examining changes in soil ⁄ water quality and micro-watershed balances as a consequence of specific interventions, such as the adoption of no-tillage practices.  Research scientists from Indian Universities are collaborating in field work at the Madya Pradesh and Punjab sites.  The PI for the project is Dr. Rattan Lal, School of Environment and Natural Resources & Director of the Carbon Management & Sequestration Center.
• Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) Partnership.   CFAES has maintained a long–standing relationship with PAU dating back to the 1950’s when OSU worked with the U.S. Department of State build institutions of higher agricultural education in the North of India.  Part of this legacy is the Punjab Agricultural University, located in Ludhiana, Punjab State.  This institution played a major role in the green revolution that occurred in South Asia during the 70's and 80's. 

Dr. Manjit Kang, Vice Chancellor of PAU, visited the CFAES in September to attend the Farm Science Review and to participate in an Agricultural Knowledge Initiative workshop held by the School of Environmental and Natural Resources.  The U.S.-India Agricultural Knowledge Initiative (AKI) on Agricultural Education, Teaching, Research, Service, and Commerical Linkages (AKI) (link) was initiated by U.S. president George W. Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2005 to bolster agricultural research, education, and extension and facilitate technology transfer, trade and investment between the two countries. OSU and PAU faculty are actively engaged in the AKI.   AKI and the Indian government have funded the exchange of scholars from PAU with OSU. 

Recently Pat Whittington, FAES Academic Programs, and Tom Shockey, Horticulture and Crop Sciences, exchanged visits with PAU staff to explore needs for exchange programs among U.S. and Indian institutions working within the Agricultural Knowledge Initiative.  Mark Erbaugh, Director, International Programs in Agriculture, and Valente Alvarez, Director of the OSU Food Industries Center, attended a symposium on the Agricultural Knowledge Initiative in Bangalore. Organized under the leadership of Purdue and Iowa State, the workshop focused on identification of follow up activities to the Initiative.

International Plant Diagnostic Network (IPDN) Global Theme Program.  

This IPM-CRSP funded program is operational in 13 countries in Africa, Central America and South Asia.  The goal of the IPDN is to improve capacity for plant disease and insect pest diagnostics at the clinical level in developing countries.  IPDN works toward direct capacity building through shared expertise in sample identification, development of standard operating procedures, and utilization of a specially designed distance diagnostics and information management web portal (click here for IPDN website).   IPDN is led by Dr. Sally Miller, Plant Pathology.    Recently (?) a two-day IPDN training program near Jakarta, Indonesia, conducted by Dr. Fulya Baysal-Gurel, a Postdoctoral Associate with Dr. Sally Miller, and local resource people.  Dr. Sally Miller has also led the IPM CRSP Regional Program in South Asia as the plant disease management research coordinator.  The focus is (was?) development of strategies for disease management of vegetable crops.  Development of disease-resistant germplasm, grafting technology, and biological control are among the tactics studied and implemented in farming systems in Bangladesh, Nepal and India.

The 2-week OSU short course "Insect Pest and Disease Diagnosis for International Trade and Food Security" was conducted at the OARDC in Wooster and co-coordinated and taught by Dr. Sally Miller (Plant Pathology) and Dr. Luis Cañas (Entomology).  Participants came from six African countries and Japan.   This was the third annual offering of this course, which grew from an IPDN workshop conducted at the OARDC in 2007.  Participants are trained in classical and modern plant diagnostics including the use of advanced molecular techniques and internet resources.  Click here for info on this OSU short course.