VISITORS: Dec 2017, Jan – Feb 2018
13 December 2017: Jeateak Ryoo, CEO and Indeok Hwang, R&D Director of Bunonogseed Co, Ltd., Korea met with WorldVeg Vegetable Breeder Mohamed Rakha, Research Assistant Tsung-han Lin, Plant Breeder Peter Hanson, Research Assistant Su-feng Lu, Pepper Breeder Sanjeet Kumar, and Postdoctoral Scientist Derek Barchenger.
22 December 2017: An 8-person delegation from the U.S. Congressional Staff, USA accompanied by Hans Tsung-han Wu, Officer, Congressional Liaison Division, Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) visited WorldVeg HQ, where they were briefed by Maureen Mecozzi, Director of Communications and guided throuhg the WorldVeg Genebank by Maarten van Zonneveld, Genebank Manager and Yung-kuang Huang, Genebank scientist.
10 January 2018: A 15-person delegation from the VinEco Company visited WorldVeg HQ. The visit was organized by the Vietnam Mission in Taipei.
12 January 2018: William Mphuthing (center), Secretary of Sedibeng Agri-Park and Agri-Hub, Member of District Joint Committee, President of Sedibeng Business Chamber, Affiliated with Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Land Reform in South Africa visited WorldVeg HQ along with his student, Nosipho, who is studying at the Ying-Hai High School (Cambridge International School) for Agriculture Training in Taiwan.
22 & 23 January 2018: Two groups of students (grades 3-12) and teachers from National Nanke International Experimental High School visited WorldVeg HQ as their end-of-school-term field trip to see the Demonstration Garden, Genebank, and the Insectary. More than 30 students and teachers planted rice–a method to help control pests and soil-borne diseases–during their tour of the Demonstration Garden.
24 January 2018: Ravi Khetarpal, Executive Secretary, Asia Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutions (APAARI), Rishi Kumar Tyagi, Coordinator, Asia-Pacific Consortium on Agricultural Biotechnology (APCoAB), APARRI, Bangkok, Thailand, and Mrs. Vijay Laxmi Tyagi.
12 February 2018: Dr. Bonnie Tai (right), Director, Educational Studies, College of the Atlantic (COA), Maine, USA visited WorldVeg HQ to plan future field trips for COA scholars.
21 December 2017: Pete Brocklesby (left) a private agricultural technology developer, visited WorldVeg HQ with his associate Kaz Sugiura (center). They met with Ravishankar Manickam, Vegetable Grafting Scientist, and toured the Genebank and Vegetable Demonstration Garden.
11 January 2018: Ad van den Nieuwenhuizen (left), Breeding Manager Brassica/Manager R&D India and Evgeny Novoselov, Breeder Brassica/Breeding Brassica of Rijk Zwaan visited WorldVeg HQ. They were accompanied by Candy Chung from Ruihe Seeds Co., Ltd., the local distributor of Rijk Zwaan Taiwan. Ad visited the genebank, where he met Research Assistant Tien-hor Wu.
18 January 2018: 20 teachers from a counseling group on Natural Science Education in Taiwan visited WorldVeg HQ under the auspices of the Tainan City Government.
24 January 2018: Russell T. Caplen, Area Director for Taiwan, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Office, and Yen-Chi Chen, Agricultural Scientist, APHIS Office, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) visited WorldVeg HQ. They were briefed by Maureen Mecozzi, WorldVeg Director of Communications and toured the Genebank with Maarten van Zonneveld, Genebank Manager. They also held discussions with Deputy Directors General, David Johnson and Yin-Fu Chang, Virologists Lawrence Kenyon and Sophia Chan, and Plant Breeders Mohamed Rakha, and Sanjeet Kumar.
5 February 2018: A Taiwan Television Enterprise (TTV) TV crew including reporter Yu-jie Huang visited WorldVeg HQ to shoot a TV program “Hotline Tracking”. They interviewed Yin-Fu Chang, Deputy Director General, Administration and Services; WorldVeg tomato and pepper breeders Peter Hanson, Shu-fen Lu, Grace Hsu, Derek Barchenger, Susan Lin, and Vivian Wang; Genebank Manager Maarten van Zonneveld; and genebank scientists Sophie Chou and Yung-kuang Huang.
