Increasing Applicability and Effectiveness of Soil, Crop, and Agronomic Sciences in Indigenous and Underdeveloped Communities.

USA agronomists and crop and soil scientists, are world leaders in generating research information, innovation, and interventions. However, this research has limited applicability and relevance to the indigenous and underdeveloped communities that are disproportionately pervaded by food insecurities, poverty, and environmental vulnerabilities; and are expected to be the prime victims of climate change. Despite of this, the world is going to add over 2 billion people in the next 25 years, and majority of these population will come from indigenous and underdeveloped communities in the developing world. This, in turn, will cause a substantial shift in the global population structures where the population of communities vulnerable to climate change and environmental dilapidation will increase. Therefore, local, indigenous, and underdeveloped communities in the world need information, innovations, and interventions to alleviate climate, environmental, and population mishaps that they face and will continue to face if actions that are adequate and appropriate are not taken. This can be achieved by seamlessly integrating research discoveries with appropriate cultural practices to produce culturally integrated information, innovations, and interventions that will bring about sustainable and culturally integrated change and increase research productivity.

This presentation is an effort to broaden the applicability and increase the effectiveness of research findings by training students and researchers on how to integrate cultural practices into soil, agronomic, and crop information, innovations, and interventions. This is because indigenous and underdeveloped communities are characterized by distinct and diverse culture in terms of languages, religion, lifestyle, and knowledge that remain untapped and overlooked. Participants will develop skills on how to make use of the culture-environment tie to acquire invaluable indigenous soil, crop, and agronomy knowledge; establish successful soil conservation and food production projects; communicate science; and, introduce innovations to indigenous and underdeveloped communities.