A delegation from Huazhong Agricultural University (HZAU), led by President Yan Jianbing, visited Brazil from July 26 to 31 to strengthen cooperation in agricultural science and technology.
The seven-member delegation visited the research units of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa), the University of Sao Paulo and the University of Campinas, holding discussions on crop breeding, digital agriculture, talent development, and joint research.
Embrapa is Brazil's largest state-owned agricultural research organization and is recognized for its work in tropical agriculture and digital agriculture.
On July 28, HZAU and Embrapa held a bilateral workshop on maize and soybean breeding under climate change. Seventeen presentations were held covering topics such as crop modeling, drought tolerance, genomic prediction, gene editing, plant-soil-microbe interactions and data-driven breeding.
HZAU researchers introduced recent work on maize stress resistance, single-cell transcriptomics, and genomic breeding, while Brazilian scholars shared advances in tropical crop improvement and digital agriculture.
The two sides also discussed germplasm exchange, joint breeding projects and researcher mobility. Embrapa plans to send a delegation to HZAU later this year to explore establishing a joint China-Brazil laboratory for maize and soybean breeding.

The HZAU delegation poses for a group photo at the Embrapa Maize & Sorghum research center. [Photo/new.hzau.edu.cn]

HZAU President Yan Jianbing meets with representatives from Embrapa Digital Agriculture for discussions. [Photo/new.hzau.edu.cn]

The HZAU delegation exchanges views with faculty members and students at a Brazilian university. [Photo/new.hzau.edu.cn]