SAG and UC Davis Chile establish partnership to address challenges facing the agriculture, livestock and forestry sector
The agreement creates a framework for connecting the priorities of Chile’s Agricultural and Livestock Service (SAG) with the interdisciplinary expertise of UC Davis and UC Davis Chile in areas including plant health, food safety, natural resource protection, One Health and the modernization of border controls, among others.
Chile’s Agricultural and Livestock Service and the UC Davis Chile Life Sciences Innovation Center signed a collaboration agreement on September 8 to develop joint scientific, technical, educational and strategic initiatives. The agreement will connect SAG’s institutional challenges with the research, innovation and knowledge transfer capabilities of the University of California, Davis, or UC Davis, and its center in Chile.
The agreement was signed by SAG National Director Domingo Rojas Philippi and UC Davis Chile Executive Director Darío Cantù during a ceremony held at SAG’s headquarters.
The signing ceremony brought together representatives from SAG’s Livestock Protection, Agricultural and Forestry Protection, Renewable Natural Resources Protection and Border Control divisions, as well as its Department of Plant and Animal Health and Natural Resources Intelligence and Department of Communications and Citizen Participation.
“This agreement creates an opportunity to connect the challenges facing our agency with high-level scientific and innovation capabilities. We hope to advance concrete initiatives that strengthen our capacities, incorporate knowledge and evidence into decision-making and help us better anticipate emerging challenges in the agriculture, livestock and forestry sector,” said Domingo Rojas Philippi, SAG's National Director.
UC Davis Chile was created to connect UC Davis research with the country’s challenges, and this agreement reflects that purpose. We want to build a joint, long-term agenda with SAG, working together to define priorities and apply science to real-world challenges in plant and animal health, food safety and natural resource protection, while developing useful tools for decision-makers” said Darío Cantú, Director Ejecutivo, UC Davis Chile.
An interdisciplinary agenda
The agreement establishes a broad, cross-cutting framework for advancing projects in public policy and institutional strengthening, innovation and knowledge transfer, capacity building, climate change and resilience, natural resource protection, plant health, food safety, plant and animal health intelligence, One Health and the modernization of border controls.
This breadth reflects SAG’s diverse responsibilities and the interconnected nature of the challenges facing the agriculture, livestock and forestry sector. Future initiatives will seek to combine scientific knowledge, technical expertise and an understanding of the national context to develop practical solutions and strengthen evidence-based decision-making.
From shared interests to concrete areas of work
The development of the agreement involved several SAG technical divisions, which helped identify shared interests and opportunities for collaboration.
As part of the process leading up to the signing, representatives from SAG, UC Davis Chile and UC Davis Global Affairs met on September 3 to present their respective capabilities, discuss institutional challenges and explore potential areas of work.
Participants included Mei Maggi Achu, head of SAG’s Operations Subdirectorate, along with leadership and representatives from the agency’s different technical divisions. UC Davis was represented by Michael Lazzara, associate vice provost for Academic Programs and Partnerships in Global Affairs, as well as members of the UC Davis Chile team.
This initiative originated in the Livestock Protection Division, where we identified important opportunities for collaboration related to animal health challenges, One Health and capacity building. However, we also saw an opportunity to extend it to other areas of the agency by developing a cross-cutting agreement that connects SAG’s different challenges with the scientific, technical and innovation capabilities of UC Davis Chile and UC Davis,” said Carlos Orellana Vaquero, head of the Livestock Protection Division.
The meeting provided an initial opportunity for the teams responsible for advancing the agreement to connect and identify opportunities with the potential to become concrete areas of work.
“At UC Davis, we are deeply proud of our relationship with Chile, a partnership that dates back to the 1960s and has grown stronger across generations. This agreement with SAG deepens that commitment and will allow us not only to contribute our expertise, but also to learn from Chile’s experience as we address challenges shared by Chile and California in areas such as agriculture, plant and animal health, climate and natural resource protection,” said Michael Lazzara, associate vice provost for Academic Programs and Partnerships in Global Affairs at UC Davis.
“The value of this agreement lies in its cross-cutting nature and its potential to connect concrete challenges across SAG’s different areas with scientific, technical and innovation capabilities. The next step will be to prioritize the opportunities through which this collaboration can generate tangible results and contribute to strengthening and modernizing the agency,” said Mei Maggi Achu, head of SAG’s Operations Subdirectorate.
As a first step toward implementing the agreement, both teams are reviewing a roadmap that will guide the identification and prioritization of challenges, needs and opportunities for collaboration across the areas covered by the agreement. This process will help define shared areas of work and develop a portfolio of potential projects and activities.