Planting experimental plots of rice, Tai Ping Men Farm, Nanking, 1932.

Cornell's technical assistance programs officially began in the 1920s when Cornell entered into an agreement with the University of Nanking in China. The program included a comprehensive crop improvement program involving the major food crops of central and northern China; training of Chinese in the principles, methods, applications, and organization of crop improvement; and direct participation by a professor from Cornell for several months of each year, beginning in 1925.