Fowler White Burnett recently held an International Forum on the Impact of Agribusiness, Environmental and Economic Development in the CARICOM Region. Spearheaded by Shareholder John H. Friedhoff, the Forum addressed agriculture and agribusiness and the opportunities for expanding trade between the Caribbean and Florida.
In addition to discussing agricultural development, environmental needs and economic impact, the Forum addressed the need to move to agroprocessing and agriculture- based manufacturing and discussed the idea of faculty interaction between the University of the West Indies, the University of Guyana, the Guyana School of Agriculture and Zamorano University; furthermore, to increase interaction between the CARICOM nations and the private agriculture sector in the United States with a focus on bilateral and multilateral funding to promote investment and agroprocessing in the territory.
Friedhoff, a Florida Bar Board Certified Specialist in International Law and Trustee of the Zamorano University in Honduras (where he serves on a pro-bono basis) brought to light the four undergraduate degrees the Zamorano University offers in Agricultural Engineering: Agronomy; Agribusiness Management; Food Agroindustry; and Environment and Development.
Friedhoff noted the school is in reality a paradigm of Pan Americanism with students enrolling from the Caribbean, Central American and South America and that its actual name (Panamerican Agricultural School) is true to its name. He expressed hope that graduates and faculty from Zamorano would work together to assist in agribusiness development in the region and pledged his own assistance in jump starting such an initiative with his personal efforts.
The four-year educational program emphasizes academic excellence and character formation, and it complements theory with practical field experience through its Learning by Doing program, in which the students work half a day in the production and processing plants or conserving the natural resources that are part of the university campus.
