One of the largest global seed companies is growing its relationship with UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.
Limagrain, the fourth largest seed company in the world, announced earlier this month it is expanding its partnership with UF and IFAS. Ruth Borger, assistant vice president of IFAS Communications, said the partnership will include opportunities for students, such as internships and guest lectures.
Limagrain and HM.CLAUSE, a business subsidiary of the company, have a history of partnership with UF and IFAS. They donated $300,000 last year to support the Challenge 2050 Project, an initiative led by UF and IFAS and the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences to solve the challenges of the world’s rapidly growing population.
Borger said students can learn about business models and gain real-life work experience from Limagrain’s executives.
“This company is growing and wants to dramatically increase its workforce,” Borger said.
Anthony Andenoro, an assistant professor of leadership education within the college and the Challenge 2050 Project academic coordinator, said he is excited about future prospects of the expanding partnership. He said he believes global change is possible by investing in students.
“It’s this really nice back and forth with these two organizations that creates a distinctive experience for the students and our program,” Andenoro said.
The partnership will give students the confidence and capacity to solve global issues like food security and natural resource conservation, he said.
“Our students begin to take ownership of the problem,” Andenoro said.
He added that he sees UF defining itself as a hub for population studies.
“We’re not content in just the classroom,” Andenoro said. “We want to bring everyone into the conversation.”
[A version of this story ran on page 5 on 3/17/2015 under the headline “UF/IFAS extends its partnership with global seed company”]
