Ag Economics, FST Welcome Borlaug Fellow
Michael Wilcox, assistant professor of the Department of Agricultural Economics, will mentor Demanie Musu Flomo, UT's first USDA Borlaug Fellow.
Flomo, who hails from Liberia, will examine market information systems and learn quality assessment techniques this fall. Through this joint program with the World Cocoa Foundation and U.S. Department of Agriculture/Foreign Agricultural Service, Flomo will complete two months of study and educational activities focused on improving the efficiency of cocoa marketing.
During her fellowship, Flomo will attend the World Food Prize Symposium in Des Moines and will learn more about the cocoa supply chain by visiting WCF-member companies involved in warehousing, processing and manufacturing.
When she returns, she will apply what she has learned to her work in Liberia.
While in Tennessee, Flomo will visit Tennessee businesses that use cocoa, a tropical tree crop, in their products and meet with UT Extension agents to explore technology transfer options. Her program will be developed jointly with the Department of Food Science and Technology. Flomo is the first female Fellow from Africa in the Cocoa Borlaug Fellows Program. Also, this is the first cocoa fellowship with a focus on economics.
The cornerstone of the Norman E. Borlaug International Agricultural Science and Technology Fellows Program is faculty and scientist exchange programs with developing countries. The program provides short-term scientific training for international agricultural research scientists and policymakers from selected developing countries. Mentors then have the opportunity to visit the Fellows at their home institutions for follow-up activities.