The opening up of the Russian borders has presented opportunities for collaboration not only in private industries but also with academic institutions.  The College of Agricultural, Food, and Environmental Sciences signed a Memorandum of Agreement with Kuban Gosagriuniversity in 1995.  Through this agreement, faculty and students have the opportunity to participate in exchanges for the purpose of collaborative research, transferring of knowledge, sharing scientific information and exploring different teaching methods.

The goal of the exchanges is to improve production, processing and marketing of crops and livestock in such a way as to increase profitability, properly manage the natural resource base and ensure the environmental quality, while at the same time adapting the technologies to the regional, social and agribusiness conditions of Russia.  The first year began with variety trials of alfalfa and soybeans in Krasnodar.  The Russian students participate as Minnesota Agricultural Student Trainees during their five months in the U.S.  The faculty exchanges are shorter--general only two-weeks in length.

Funding:
Private Donation