Alexandre Costa Varella is the coordinator of the Labex North America Program for the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa). Based in Beltsville, Maryland, he serves as a strategic representative for Embrapa’s directorate, managing international scientific partnerships and technical cooperation. Throughout his career, Varella has held several leadership positions within Embrapa, including serving as head of research and administrator of the Southern Animal Husbandry Unit.

A specialist in silvipastoral systems and pasture physiology, Varella has led numerous research projects for Embrapa and the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply. In 2010, he conducted postdoctoral research in New Zealand in collaboration with Lincoln University and Plant and Food Research Ltd., focusing on the development of mathematical models for annual ryegrass growth.

Varella holds a degree in agronomy and a master’s degree in forage plants from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS). He earned his PhD in plant science from Lincoln University, New Zealand, with an emphasis on pasture growth modeling under agroforestry systems.

Varella was an event speaker at the Dialogue.