February 2011 Blog Posts (13)

Ottawa, Ontario, February 28, 2011 - Three major reports released today all point to healthy prospects for the agricultural industry. The reports give a clear snapshot of the state of the sector, portraying a highly complex, integrated and globally-competitive value chain that is an expanding and vibrant part of the Canadian economy.

"We are looking at another bumper year for farm incomes in 2010…

February 26, 2011 - Best Last Day in Guatemala Ever! Another beautiful sunny hot day in Guatemala; we actually haven’t seen rain since we arrived. The mornings have been cool and pleasant, and the last two mornings we were able to have breakfast under a huge 60-foot-high thatch roofed mezzanine overlooking Lake Peten Itza. The lake has a turquoise hue from the limestone base.…

February 24, 2011 - Go DIEGO GO!!! Can’t stop thinking about the kids and the cartoon character Diego the animal rescuer, as we took the plane, the bus, the boat and seemingly endless uphill hike (with luggage) to arrive at ARCAS animal rescue shelter at a balmy 32 degrees Celsius.

ARCAS is a wonderful place where we found very passionate people. It is an NGO…

February 22, 2011 - Today felt like we truly started our AALP International Study Tour. We woke up in Antigua, the original capital of Guatemala, which is surrounded by three active volcanoes. We even saw some smoke from one of them from the roof of our hotel.

We did not know what to expect from our visit at CasaSito, a non-governmental organization working with…

As AALP Class 13 gathered for departure from Pearson Airport early on the morning of Sunday February 20, the group soon realized that flights were running late and that American Airlines would be redirecting the flight. John Borland and Bonnie den Haan were first in the check in line and were sent to Dallas while all of the others were sent to Miami on a later flight. Bonnie and John arrived safely in Guatemala City on Sunday evening, while the remainder of the class overnighted in Florida…

By Henry Stevens

February 18, 2011 

I’m a firm believer in paying attention to the lessons of history. With that in mind, I took great interest in some speeches from past CFFO leaders that our staff recently uncovered when searching through the organization’s archives. And it’s led me to ask, “Have we learned anything from history?”

One of the speeches was written by then Vice-President, Sid Sikkema, in 1986. Sikkema had attended a workshop entitled “The Globalization of…