This paper provides a qualitative description of a long-term engagement of undergraduate students in an immersive research experience in Ecuador. We describe and analyze factors related to operation under common challenges to field research in developing countries. We address issues of incentives and barriers to faculty and students interested in pursuing international undergraduate research. Our program has engaged students at Virginia Tech eight times since 2007, including a total of 50 U.S. undergraduates, and was designed to attract students of all socioeconomic strata. It begins with a Spring semester three-credit class on research methods, household survey administration, and data analysis and inference. During this time, partners in Ecuador are introduced through remote meetings and joint work on the survey. In mid-May, we fly to Quito, where students take language and culture lessons, finalize the survey, and gain exposure to the various institutions involved in the research. After two weeks, the group travels to the remote survey location, currently near Riobamba in Chimborazo Province. Four weeks of data collection paired with local students follow. Finally, data are analyzed, and a report is prepared and presented to an advisory group in the subsequent Fall semester. The programmatic goals were to (1) provide undergraduates with a substantive research experience in a developing country; and (2) provide useful data for the project as to the attitudes of Ecuadorian farmers toward adoption of environmentally friendly agricultural practices. The program is built around several principles: (i) end-to-end student engagement from problem identification through presentation of findings to stakeholders; (ii) financial accessibility—all participation costs are covered; (iii) primary data collection from farm-households in the study area; (iv) full partnership with host-country researchers and students; and (v) supportive and complementary past and ongoing agronomic research in the study area. Lessons include challenges related to program structure; administration—the Institutional Review Board (IRB) clearance, travel approvals, and financial matters; technical challenges—questionnaire design, CAPI surveying, teaching, and programming data analysis; and field supervision, language, and cultural awareness. Linkages to high-quality ongoing agronomic research allow the socioeconomic research to focus on technology adoption and technology-relevant factors such as profitability, risk, and access to inputs. These themes are well-addressed through socioeconomic research.

New production from public and exclusive varieties released by the small grains breeding program at Virginia Tech generated cumulative discounted benefits of $41 million from 2000 to 2018. Fitted yields from field trials were combined with acreage estimates to generate weighted average yields based on adoption of new varieties. Benefits were estimated as the value of additional production from the release and adoption of improved varieties. Public varieties were responsible for most program benefits. The program was found to have a significant impact in Virginia and out-of-state, with much of these benefits due to public-private collaboration.

For several years, pest management in tomato production in Cambodia has generally focused on the use of synthetic pesticides. We compared conventional pest management (farmers' traditional practices) with an integrated pest management (IPM) program on 12 farms in the northwestern part of Cambodia. The IPM program combined cultural, biological, and chemical practices. We found that IPM practices reduced aphid damage by 46%, and diseases such as Fusarium wilt and damping-off were substantially reduced. Our results indicate that the IPM package increased tomato yield and income by an average of 23 and 34%, respectively, compared with conventional practices during both dry and rainy seasons.

Data from 1,422 feeder cattle teleauction lots were used to assess the impacts on profitability of the Virginia quality assured (VQA) feeder cattle program. The analysis finds higher profits for VQA cattle due to their faster turnover and lower feed costs; however, certification does not have a significant effect on price received by producers. The analysis further suggests that the cost associated with production under VQA should be considered in addition to price effects studied in previous literature.

Background Limited analysis has been conducted of the role of agricultural research in promoting Chinese agricultural growth in less-favored areas. This paper analyzes how a particular potato variety generates benefits to producers and discusses how these benefits may have contributed to poverty reduction in Yunnan province. Cooperation 88 (C88) is a high-yielding, late blight-resistant variety that was developed through a partnership between the International Potato Center and Yunnan Normal University in Kunming, China. Methods Qualitative and quantitative methods are used to analyze determinants of adoption of C88, and to estimate impacts of adoption on producer well-being. A unique farm-household database is used to document the determinants of C88 adoption and disadoption. The quantitative assessment is supplemented with a qualitative analysis of the potato value chain to understand how seed availability and concern for processing attributes contributed to and eventually constrained diffusion. Market-level information was used in an economic surplus model to quantify the substantial economic impact of C88 over 20 years since its release. Results C88 spread rapidly in Yunnan following its release and was widely adopted by commercially oriented farmers. Disadoption began after 2010 with limited seed availability driving the shift toward newer varieties. Farmers, however, appreciate the ease of marketing, the 15% higher yields, and late-blight resistance associated with C88 suggesting that seed constraints are countervailing the economic benefits of the variety. Total impact on Yunnan potato farmers of the variety was estimated to be around $2.5 billion for the 1996–2015 period. Conclusions On per-person terms among C88 growing farm households, the economic advantage of the variety is likely to have contributed to poverty reduction. The aggregate impact of C88 diffusion occurred during a period of rapid poverty reduction in Yunnan and yield and disease-resistance benefits of C88 likely contributed to this reduction.