I-CAL participants say 'farewell' to Columbia and Panama

As we board our flight back to the States we take one more time to reflect on the past two weeks and what an amazing adventure they have been!

Our journey began in Orlando when twelve college students from across the United States came together excited to learn and experience new ways of life and different agricultural practices.

In Panama we got our first glimpse into Tropical Agriculture. Panamanians were very friendly and welcoming people and anxious to teach us about their way of life. We toured many different aspects of the agricultural industry, including a coffee farm, shrimp production facility, agricultural education and experienced global trade first hand when we visited the Panama Canal. We learned how they dealt with issues like deforestation of the rainforest, having a small population (only 3 million in the whole country) and competing with larger nations.

After spending an amazing week in Panama full of new experiences and a new knowledge of agriculture the I-CAL team and Grains Council Staff made our way to Colombia. In Colombia we found ourselves amazed at the modernization, use of cooperatives and vertical integration found in production agriculture. With several busy days in the cities of Cali and Medellian we experienced open air markets, a dairy cooperative, swine and poultry vertical integration, floral production, fruit production and experienced a culture that offered more than we had expected.

Over the past two weeks friendships have been made, a new view on agriculture developed and a broader perspective of global agriculture have made for an experience that each of us will remember for a lifetime.

We would like to take one final time to say “Thank You” to the US Grains Council and the Grains Foundation and the National FFA Organization for making this program possible.

As the twelve members of the I-CAL Team, The Grains Council and National FFA Staff return to our respective locations we know that we have a common thread among us as well as with many other people in this small world. No matter where you go one thing is for sure you can always find someone involved in agriculture. Despite all of the differences in agriculture around the world one thing stays the same, in the words of a Colombian farmer, “Trabajamos con el sol y servimos con el Corazon”. We work with the sun and we serve with the heart.

For our final time from Colombia, Panama and Orlando, Florida, Gracias and Ciao!

Matt Barnhill, North Carolina State University

Chelsy Coen, Kansas State University

I-CAL participants head home

Today we started our final day in Colombia and our final day of programming for the 2011 I-CAL trip. Our day started early so that we could make the most of our final day in South America. Our plan included stops at a chicken and pork processing plant, an avocado cooperative, some small furniture buildings, a flower farm and finally a small corn arepa production facility. With five stops and one day to complete them we had a crammed packed schedule. None the less we did have the help of a local woman Catalina who would be showing us a lot of the local agriculture. We began the day with breakfast at a little shop on the corner of a business street.

Immediately after breakfast we headed to tour a swine and chicken processing and packing plant. The group split up into two groups and chose either the pork or chicken tour. We started our tour from the packaging process and worked our way to the harvesting to prevent contamination.

The plant was surprisingly compact for all that goes on within the plant. Supercerdo; the name of the pork company we were touring slaughters and processes 400 pigs daily. We were able to visually see the entire process from finish to start, as well as we were able to learn a lot about the process in South America.

After the tour we asked a few questions about the chicken facility and were able to get a very quick tour through that facility. Unfortunately there was a break down in the plant and no chickens were being process, but we were still able to walk through the facility and see the infrastructure. In the process we learned they are capable of slaughtering and processing 5,000 chickens every day. Supercerdo and Superpollo are somewhat vertically integrated as well, the processing plant owns the farms that the animals come from.

After our early morning tour of the packing plants we were introduced to Catalina, a 28-year-old Colombian native. She works for Genesis Enterprises, a nonprofit organization working to help small farmers market their products as well as provide them access to processing facilities.

Our first tour with Catalina was at an avocado processing plant. We were able to see how the avocados entered, were cleaned and then sorted. We even stepped in the cooler used to elongate the life of the avocado. It was interesting to learn that 400 growers make up this group harvesting over 1,000 hectares of avocados. The avocado farmers are growing a Hass variety and harvest two crops a year. These are chosen because of their long shelf life and resistance to diseases. Currently, this plant is only exporting to Holland because they don't have the volume to provide to European or U.S. markets.

Immediately following our avocado adventures, we headed to a few furniture stores to view the forestry part of agriculture. Furniture in Colombia is significantly less expensive than the United States. The carpenters were using a wood from the Pacific Forest south of Panama; these woods were also known to be a very hard wood and are high in quality. It was refreshing to see something so varied than our few previous stops.

After a very quick lunch stop at a local restaurant, we visited a local farm. This is a flower farm which produces five types of flowers. We were able to view the growing process, the harvesting process, as well as the post-harvest process. Eighty-five percent of the farms exports go to the United States under the Sunburst Farms label. The flower industry is very important to the country of Colombia. Currently Colombia is the second largest exporter of flowers in the world, second only to the Netherlands.

Upon completion of the flower farm visit we saw a small arepas operation. Arepas are hard to describe. Imagine something that looks like a pancake and tastes like a sweet corn biscuit. This operation is run by a mother, father, and daughter. They produce 1,600 arepas weekly for restaurants and stores that place orders. They begin with corn, grind it cook it, cool it off as well as seal and package the product. The ingredients are as simple as combining corn, sugar, and water. It was pretty neat to see all of this happening in the same room and of course the best part was being able to test the product.

After our long day full or exciting adventures, we dropped off Catalina and headed to a craft market to purchase our Colombian souvenirs and then ate our last dinner together at a steak restaurant. The day was jammed packed with a diverse array of visits and allowed for a successful last day in Colombia. Reflecting on today most of us saw a side of agriculture we are not used to and saw from the perspective of a foreign producer. Perspective is one of the biggest things we learned today and that has been a theme for our whole program. Overall I think we will all miss Medellin a lot. The moderate weather, beautiful scenery, and twisting and turning roads provided for a great few days in a great Colombian City.

Sarah Marten – Kansas State University
Dakota Hoben – Iowa State University

I-CAL: Meat and Dairy Processing in Columbia

Collegiate agriculture students who were selected to take part in the International Collegiate Agricultural Leadership (I-CAL) program are currently traveling in Columbia and Panama and blogging about their adventures.

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Getting up before 4 a.m. is not usually a college student’s cup of tea, but today we had just such a morning, and were richly rewarded with an aerial view of magnificent mountaintops as our plane landed in Medellin, Colombia. After breakfast at our new hotel, our tours today started off like none other: dressing up like Michelin Men to stay warm as we took a tour of a swine, cattle, and veal processing plant.

When we arrived at the plant, we were greeted with kind handshakes and Colanta branded souvenirs. Colanta, our host for the day, is a Colombian cooperative that handles meat and dairy.

Like many of our experiences as part of this program, there was more than meets the eye with their mission including education, collecting milk from the farms, operating stores, and marketing. Overall, they provide a highly integrated service for farmers from three to 450+ cow operations.

At their processing facility, we dressed in our “Michelin Man” apparel and went through several rounds of decontamination. This sanitization is just one part of their impressive biosecurity measures that are strict enough to achieve approval from the USDA and the Mexican government for exports. We toured the plant backwards: starting with the finished product and working back to the beginning of the process.

After leaving the processing plant, once again in our normal clothes, we headed out to a small dairy farm featuring the familiar Holstein breed of dairy cattle. The cows were treated to lush grass and a nutrient dense feed ration. We observed how some farmers still manage to be profitable milking by hand while others use more modern milking units. To better understand the full dairy production aspect encompassed by the member-owned Colanta, we stopped by one of the cooperative’s Agro-Colanta stores which offers everything from medicines and feed to shoes and fertilizers.

Then, we headed on to the Colanta cheese processing plant just up the road. Once again, we donned some new apparel for biosecurity and after the now familiar scrubbing of the boots and hands, we entered the cheese plant. We were able to watch various varieties in production and even sampled some fresh “queso”. The plant also makes yogurt and powdered milk. (Some types of Colanta cheese are available at Publix and Winn-Dixie stores in south United States and are very tasty!)

We were all tired after our long and educational day, but as we headed back to the hotel, the team realized just how beneficial a cooperative can be to both small and large producers. We also appreciated the processes and efforts that go into putting protein in a diet. Retiring after a full day, we all look forward to a busy tomorrow, our last day touring this beautiful Colombian mountain town.

Lauren Geiger – Kansas State University
Thomas Marten – Southern Illinois University

Columbia's pork producers and exotic fruits

Collegiate agriculture students who were selected to take part in the International Collegiate Agricultural Leadership (I-CAL) program are currently traveling in Columbia and Panama and blogging about their adventures.

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Que dice el cerdo (What does a pig say)? Oink Oink. (ha ha).

Today we visited a local swine producer who raises hogs from farrow to finish outside of Cali, Colombia. Everyone was delighted when we were each handed a pair of blue coveralls, plastic booties and a hair net before entering the facility.

Paradise Farms, the swine operation, is locally owned and operated. A featured technology of the operation is the process used to convert animal waste into compost and heat.

The owner is a member of the Colombian Pork Checkoff and a past president of the Colombian Pork Producers Association. The checkoff program was started in 1994 and now helps members by offering trainings to producers and spending time lobbying to the government.

It was interesting to be able to see the entire process from farrow to the final marketed product in a tropical environment. Paradise Farms is a very profitable and productive business, some production highlights include:

• 5% mortality rate
• 90% conception rate
• Average of 11 piglets/litter
• Each sow will average 28 piglets/year

Upon leaving the swine operation, we made our way to an open-air Colombian produce and meat market. All fresh foods are domestically produced. Did you know that Colombia is home to 1100 different fruits? Many of these fruits were exotic to us, and we even were able to sample a few.

It was a different experience for us to see the fresh meat market as well with meat hanging in the open air. The market allowed us to experience how the majority of local, small scale producers sell their products.

After a quick outdoor lunch and the opportunity to take a look at the neighboring nursery, we visited a local tropical fruit orchard. The most unique fruit we learned about was the Atamoya fruit, which is a new hybrid fruit created from the Naon and the Chirimoya fruits.

Atamoya is a very sweet and expensive fruit because the tree doesn’t begin producing fruit until three to four years of age. This orchard is the only Atamoya producer in the world, giving them competitive advantage in Colombian markets.

Mangos, macadamia nuts and guanabanas are also found in the orchard. The guanabana fruit is about the size of a football, green and covered in spikes. We ended the tour by seeing how macadamia nuts are cleaned, sorted and dried on location.

We finished the day with a relaxing BBQ dinner as tomorrow will be a very early wake-up call when we fly to Medellin, Colombia.

Jarvis Pace – Utah State University
Gracie Weinzierl – Illinois State University