MSU Partnership Cultivates Global Lessons in Sustainable Agriculture

Aug 05, 2026

By Ebony Stith

For 2026 outbound fellows Hillary Coleman and John Krohn, traveling to Zimbabwe and Rwanda was more than an international trip. It was an opportunity to learn alongside farmers, entrepreneurs and community leaders while advancing Michigan State University’s mission to share agricultural knowledge across borders.

Despite coming from different professional backgrounds, both returned home with the same conclusion: Some of agriculture’s most valuable lessons come from sharing ideas across borders.

Since 2017, MSU has partnered with universities in Rwanda, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe to implement the Professional Fellows Program. The initiative connects emerging agricultural leaders, entrepreneurs and innovators to strengthen agribusiness, support women’s economic empowerment and build long-term partnerships between Africa and the United States.

As part of the ongoing exchange, Coleman, an urban farmer and manager of Hunter Park GardenHouse at Allen Neighborhood Center in Lansing, and Krohn, a farmland preservation specialist with the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, participated in the reciprocal exchange component of the U.S. Department of State Professional Fellows Program administered by MSU.

African fellows complete professional placements with Michigan organizations before U.S. participants travel abroad to continue the exchange, often creating meaningful and long-term relationships.

Source : msu.edu

Video: 2026 T.K. Cheung Lecture in Animal Science - Dan Weary

T.K. Cheung Lecture in Animal Science: "Using science to assess and improve the welfare of dairy cattle"

Dan Weary is a Professor at the University of British Columbia. Dan did his BSc and MSc at McGill and Doctorate at Oxford before co-founding UBC’s Animal Welfare Program where he now co-directs this active research group. His research focuses on understanding the perspectives of animals and applying these insights to develop methods of assessing animal welfare and improving the lives of animals. His work has helped drive changes in practices (including the adoption of higher milk rations for calves and pain management for disbudding) and housing methods (including the adoption of social housing for pre-weaned calves). He also studies cow comfort and lameness, social interactions among cows, and interactions between cows, human handlers and technologies like automated millking systems that are increasingly used on farms. His presentation will outline key questions in cattle welfare, highlight recent UBC research addressing them, and showcase innovative methods for improving the lives of cattle and their caretakers.