All Blog Posts (764)

AALP class 17 left Seville the morning of January 15 heading to Sunaran Citrus Coop near the town of Palma De Rio. We were greeted by our tour guide Rosa for an informative tour of one of the biggest citrus coops in Spain. The coop consists of 98-100 members, all of which are farmer members.

The coop has 1500 acres of land growing a wide variety of orange variety’s with the main being “Salustiana” which is a juice press variety. Besides oranges they also do grapefruits with the main…

Day 7 of AALP Class 17 IST contintued with one of the highlights so far on the trip, a fruit cooperative named Cuna De Platero. We were lucky enough to be taken on a tour of their greenhouses where they allowed to try some of the different varieties of strawberries that they grow.  The greenhouses are once again made with plastic and are of similar style to our previous visits this trip. They have a cooperative structure, which is something we have come to find is very common here in Spain.…

Jan 12 - Sunday

Our day began leaving the sunny Mediterranean coast and travelling to the small rural village of Alameda. We visited the Centre Tematico del campo Andaluz. This was a museum dedicated to teaching people about the past farming practices and traditions. We were met by a museum guide, and two local farmers, a father and son – Antonio Sr. and Antonio Jr. Antonio Sr. was 90 years old and had, in his lifetime, farmed in the traditional way which, for olive oil production,…

The AALP Class left the beautiful Toledo to head to a feedlot outside the city. We were toured around a feedlot that is part of a cooperative that consists of 9,500 head of cattle. Our host, who is the president of the cooperative, has two feedlots and 600 hectares of crop land. It was interesting to learn that the cooperative’s major export market outside of Spain are Lebanon, Turkey and Israel. These destinations have particularly stringent standards for how the beef must be treated and…

Sadly, one class member, Bernice Weber Passchier, is ill and was unable to join us for our rescheduled International Study Tour. The rest of AALP Class 17 met at Pearson airport and boarded the plane to Philadelphia; after a short layover we were on an overnight flight to Madrid, Spain. 

Once we landed, we met up with Rafa, our bus driver, and Ismael, our tour guide. We were happy to learn that Ismael had an agricultural background and has been doing ag-focused tours for the last five…

Out last day in Texas had the AALP Class visit BNSF Railway headquarters (the air traffic control of the railway) a 23-billion dollar company situated outside of Fort Worth in an impressive, modern facility. We were greeted by James Titsworth, General Director of Business Development. We viewed the impressive state-of-the-art dispatch area, where over 250 people work together 24/7 ensuring safety of the railway system West of…

Sunday, July 15th saw AALP Class 17 visit the Sixth Floor Museum Sixth Floor Museumin Dallas. This is the floor…

Our day began in the historic Stockyards District of Fort Worth, once called "Cowtown". This was once the great livestock exchange of the region, as animals made their way into the area‎ by rail. The economy and infrastructure has changed, but the industry has adapted.

At Superior Livestock Auction, bimonthly…

Friday morning saw the group continue its NAST with an early morning visit to the Texas Farm Bureau (TFB). Located on a 70-acre campus outside of Waco, the Texas Farm Bureau advocates for the agricultural needs of all Texas farmers at the local, state and national level. With over 500,000 member families, the TFB prides itself as being the “Voice of Agriculture”.…

Day 5 of our tour started with the drive from College Station to the capital city of Austin. We headed to the Capitol, taking in the architecture and city sights. We also learned a few fun facts about the Capitol building, such as it is taller than the US Capitol building!

Our first speaker was Christi Craddick, Chairman of the Texas Railroad Commission.…

Our first visit of the day was to J.D. Hudgins, a family business breeding registered Brahman cattle for sale in ‎38 states and 43 countries, most located around the equator. This breed is very well suited to tropical and subtropical climates, having originated in India. We got to "meet" Manso, the bull bought by Hudgins in…

Houston, we have landed. On day two of the North American study tour AALP class 17 stopped in at NASA Johnson Space Center. We had the chance to see the historic mission control center where they navigated the first man to the moon, in addition to many other missions to space.

The control center, which closed in 1992, still features the speaker where many historic words were said –…

AALP Class 17 arrived at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, and were greeted by Dr. Jim Mazurkiewicz, the leadership program director and professor of Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. Jim is also the director of Texas Agricultural Lifetime Leadership…

Sixteen of the eighteen current and emerging Agricultural Leaders in agriculture, agri-food and rural sectors have been continuing their leadership journey with their third seminar in the Advanced Agriculture Leadership Program. For Class 17’s seminar in Sarnia, the customized leadership program explored the theme of “Shaping the Future, Dynamics of Change, Decision Making and Responsibility”.

During their time in Sarnia, the AALP Class 17 group had the opportunity to expand…