Prof. Alia Rodriguez-Villate (National University of Colombia, Bogotá)
All the work in Colombia is carried out jointly between our group and the group of Prof. Alia Rodriguez Villate at the National University of Colombia. Prof. Rodriguez is an expert in agronomy, soil fertility and the use of mycorrhizas in agriculture. Her group provide the agronomic expertise, logistics and contact to the farmers that is essential for our project to succeed. This collaboration allows us to implement our biological research in real farming situations, taking into account all the other agronomic factors that could affect the results. This ensures that any applications of our work can realistically be used by farmers and not just by researchers. Contact Alia
Universidad de La Salle (Utopía campus, Yopal, Colombia)
The La Salle University have opened an ambitious program in Los Llanos to train young people from disadvantaged areas of Colombia in agronomy. The hope is that these young people will later go back to their regions and improve agriculture in the area. The students at the Utopía campus are exceptionally motivated and they help us in testing AMF on cassava. For photos of Utopía and the students click here or visit my photography site (when I get a chance to put them on there).
Mycovitro S.L. (Granada, Spain)
Mycovitro is a small Spanish company set up two researchers from CSIC in Granada. Mycovitro produces AMF inoculum in a biotechnological process in a laboratory in a completely sterile medium. The AMF is sold in a gel suspension that is exceptionally easy to apply to the field and carries a remarkably high number of propagules per ml compared with most soil-based inocula. We also work with Mycovitro because they produce (under agreement) non-commercial AMF inocula of our genetically novel fungal lines in large quantities required for field trials and in a sterile gel-based carrier. Contact Mycovitro
CLAYUCA (CIAT, Colombia)
CLAYUCA is an organisation that disseminates information to cassava farmers about effective ways of better farming cassava in the whole of latin America and the Caribbean. CLAYUCA give us advice for our cassava experiments but will be an important partner for us in the future so that we can effectively transfer this technology to cassava farmers. Contact CLAYUCA
Prof. Daniel Uribe (National University of Colombia, Bogotá)
Daniel Uribe is also a professor in biotechnology at the National University of Colombia in Bogotá. He conducts AMF field experiments with rice and is also an expert on phosphate solubilizing bacteria in the rhizosphere. Along with Alia Rodriguez, he conducts a research program on the synergy between AMF and these bacteria.
Cenicaña, Cenipalma and others
For really large scale field trials with AMF we have to reply on partners that have a considerable amount of resources and infrastructure. That is why we also work with large plantations producing sugar cane and oil palm. These experiments are carried out on large commercial plantations in collaboration with Cenicaña and Cenipalma.