ARIZONA—For two weeks in April, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service, Coronado National Forest and International Programs partnered with the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service to host the Cochran Fellowship Program on Sustainable Ranching seminar.

The Cochran Fellowship Program hosts several seminars each year. Training opportunities are for senior and mid-level specialists and administrators working in agricultural trade and policy; agribusiness development; management; animal, plant and food sciences; extension services; and many other areas.

This sustainable ranching seminar focused on sustainable ranching in arid environments. Fellows were from central and northern Mexico and included four ranchers, two non-governmental organization employees, one government official who works in rangeland and wildlife management, and one private sector trainee who works in carbon accounting in the agriculture sector. The seminar provided the fellows with knowledge of how the United States manages land between multiple agencies, non-governmental organizations, and state and private landowners. They received hands-on training to enhance their technical knowledge and skills in areas related to rangeland and stock management, watershed and grassland restoration, and emerging technologies, such as virtual fencing.

Following the completion of the Cochran Fellowship Program, each fellow creates an action plan that describes a challenge they face in their landscape, how they want to address it, and what skills or information from the seminar they will use to remedy the issue. Fellows included goals such as  sustainable ranching plans, how to make the most of natural resources, how to address invasive species, how to perform integrated pest management and more.

The opportunity allowed the fellows to see firsthand the many unique collaborative efforts between the USDA Forest Service, U.S. Department of Defense and the many stakeholders involved with these agencies.

The key to accomplishing the Wildfire Crisis Strategy efficiently and effectively is collaboration. Federal and state agencies working together with their local communities, tribes and neighboring countries is the best way to create a fire-resilient landscape and healthy national forests and grasslands for future generations. Coronado National Forest is unique in that it is the only national forest sharing a border with Mexico, which provides opportunities for these essential inter-agency and international coordination and collaboration. The goal is to promote sustainable ranching and climate change resiliency because wildfires and resource scarcities have no boundaries.

Since 1984, the U.S. Congress has made funds available to the Cochran Fellowship Program, named after late U.S. Senator William Thad Cochran, for training agriculturalists from middle-income countries, emerging markets and emerging democracies. The Cochran Fellowship Program is part of the United States Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service. Individuals selected for Cochran training come from the public and private sectors and all training occurs in the United States. Training programs are designed and organized in conjunction with U.S. universities, USDA and other government agencies, agribusinesses, and consultants. The Cochran Fellowship Program has provided U.S.-based training for over 19,450 international participants from 127 countries worldwide.