Linking Rural Family Farmers to an Urban Food Bank

Colby Silvert, Assistant Professor of Agricultural and Extension Education in the Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture is strengthening ties and joint teaching, research, and extension efforts with the Federal University of Viçosa in Brazil that stem back to 2013. The University of Viçosa has been ranked among the 100 best universities in the world for agriculture and forestry (QS World University Rankings). In early 2025, Viçosa was awarded a grant from the Government of Brazil, which included an “internationalization” component in collaboration with Silvert at UMD and Dr. Jera Niewoehner-Green, Associate Professor in Agricultural Communication, Education, and Leadership at the Ohio State University.

The Viçosa-led grant, Food Bank and Sustainable Production in the Zona da Mata of Minas Gerais, aims to design an inter-institutional food bank based in the urban center of Viçosa where there is a real need to improve food security among residents. A central goal of the project is to build regional family farmers’ capacities and linkages to sell their produce to the Food Bank as a viable, alternative market. To do this, the project is mobilizing municipal authorities, developing organizational and logistical plans, and integrating rural producers into a system that channels surplus foods to the Food Bank. The project also promotes capacity-building for farming families to enhance the sustainability of their production systems, while creating a local database to monitor social, economic, nutritional, and environmental indicators. 

In March 2025, Silvert visited Brazil with Niewoehner-Green to engage with the Viçosa-based Food Bank team, brainstorm areas for expanded collaboration, and teach a graduate-level short-course. The two visiting faculty also provided a joint seminar open to the university and public communities to share their research and extension. The course Silvert and Niewoehner-Green taught was titled Transforming Agri-Food and Natural Resource Systems: Theories and Tools to Engage Communities and Promote Innovation and explored how to use social science and community engagement approaches to analyze and address agricultural, food security, and natural resource challenges. 

Silvert’s work in Brazil stems back to research and a 2015 Fulbright grant, based in Viçosa, which was focused on family coffee farmers’ access to specialty markets. Brazil’s positioning, like the US, as a global agricultural powerhouse makes continued collaboration mutually beneficial. Expanding to UMD students, in spring break of 2026, Silvert and Fabiana Cardoso (ANSC UMD) will co-lead an Education Abroad class of 16 students to Brazil including activities with Viçosa and regional family farmers.