Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture

Agriculture

US Secretary of Agriculture and Director General of IICA reviewed collaboration agenda focused on agricultural health and the well-being of rural communities

Tiempo de lectura: 3 mins.

The meeting revealed the collaborative agenda between IICA and USDA focused on key issues.

Bilsack

San Jose, 5 August 2021 (IICA) – Manuel Otero, Director General of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), met with Tom Vilsack, United States Secretary of Agriculture, to discuss issues related to agricultural health, including the detection of African swine fever in the Dominican Republic and the situation facing Central America’s Northern Triangle.

As part of the close collaboration between the USDA and IICA, the discussion also focused on the process leading up to the UN Food Systems Summit and the development of programs like “Living Soils of the Americas” and digital rural extension, which could benefit the region encompassing El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, an area characterized by extreme social, economic and environmental vulnerability.

Additionally, Secretary Vilsack was invited by the Director General of IICA to participate in the upcoming Conference of Ministers of Agriculture of the Americas, which will take place virtually on 1-2 September.

The Conference will host the sessions of the Inter-American Board of Agriculture (IABA)—IICA’s highest governing body consisting of the Ministers and Secretaries of the Institute’s 34 Member States.

“The meeting revealed the collaborative agenda between IICA and USDA focused on key issues. One of those is agricultural health and the concern for the eruption of registered cases of African swine fever (ASF) in the Dominican Republic”, commented the Director General of IICA, upon conclusion of the meeting.

In the meeting, Manuel Otero thanked the USDA for its support on the road to the Summit—which enabled the hemispheric dialogues in which the countries of the Americas reached a consensus regarding the global forum—and underscored the importance of IICA-sponsored programs, including “Living Soils of the Americas” and rural digital extension, with the aim to better conditions so that small-scale farmers are able to improve their yields and income sustainably.

In addition to Otero and Secretary Vilsack, the meeting was attended, on behalf of IICA, by Lloyd Day, Deputy Director General; Horrys Friaca, Acting US Representative; and Jorge Werthein, Special Advisor to the Director General; and on behalf of the USDA, Daniel Whitley, Foreign Agricultural Service Administrator; and Donald Willar, International Trade Specialist with the Foreign Agricultural Service.

More information:

Institutional Communication Division

comunicacion.institucional@iica.int

Share

Related news​

Santa Fé, Darién, Panamá

September 4, 2025

Coordination between IICA and Panamanian and U.S. government authorities bolsters the fight against New World screwworm in Central America and Mexico

As part of the efforts to curb the spread of the New World screwworm (NWS), a current health threat in Central America and Mexico, the Ministry of Agricultural Development (MIDA) of Panama, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the Panama-United States Commission for the Eradication and Prevention of Screwworm (COPEG) organized a meeting with livestock farmers in the city of Santa Fé de Darién to strengthen health surveillance and better protect local livestock production.

Tiempo de lectura: 3mins

El Director General del IICA, Manuel Otero, reafirmó en la inauguración de Biohélice 2025 el compromiso del Instituto con la bioeconomía como eje estratégico para transformar el agro y revitalizar los territorios rurales. En el acto lo acompañaron la Directora General de CINDE, Marianela Urgellés; el Rector de la UNA, Jorge Herrera; y el presidente de CRBiomed, Álvaro Peralta.

San Jose, Costa Rica

September 3, 2025

Specialists and partners at a meeting spearheaded by IICA view the bioeconomy as essential in positioning Costa Rica and the Americas as leaders in sustainability and production transformation

The bioeconomy specialists were participating in Biohélice 2025, an event organized by Costa Rica’s Universidad Nacional, the CRBiomed association and IICA, which brought together more than 130 participants with an interest in innovation and bioeconomy.

Tiempo de lectura: 3mins

Alagoas, Brasil

September 1, 2025

Eliane Faria de Souza, a fisherwoman from Northeastern Brazil combining old traditions with innovative ideas to protect the environment, is named an IICA Leader of Rurality of the Americas

Eliane works with other women in the region to transform polluting waste substances into organic fertilizer.

Tiempo de lectura: 3mins