Ontario Agriculture

The network for agriculture in Ontario, Canada

AALP Class 16 celebrates Canada’s Agriculture Day in Vietnam

Our AALP class woke this morning in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, 12 hours ahead of our families and friends at home in Ontario and the inaugural Canada's Agriculture Day.

We are celebrating and sharing our passion and knowledge of Canadian agriculture today with two other Ag leadership groups from the US, LEAD New York and Rural Leadership North Dakota.

We started the day by splitting into mixed groups and partaking in different activities around the city. Many of the groups visited the War Remnants museum, while other groups took part in a traditional Vietnamese cooking class: 

 visited local temples and markets:

One group experienced a new mode of transportation, the Vietnamese rickshaw and the chaos of Ho Chi Minh City traffic. 

We then returned to the hotel for an afternoon of speakers. Up first was Matthew Wall, Public Affairs officer at the US consulate in Ho Chi Minh City. He spoke on economics and trade between Vietnam and the US. He said that even though there has been conflict and history between the two countries, ties have never been stronger and Vietnam is the fastest growing export market for the US. He also mentioned that they use Facebook as their primary communication channel to promote American products, as 42 million people in Vietnam are on Facebook and Twitter is not available in Vietnam.

The next speaker, was Dr. Vo Mal from the Vietnam Gardening Association (VACVINA). VACVINA was the first Vietnam NGO and has one million members and more than 18,000 base organizations all over the country. She shared the message that their goal is to help gardeners become rich farmers. They assist farmers with training, promotion of products and access to set-up local markets.

Antony Nezic spoke next about his role as the President of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce (CanCham Vietnam). Can Cham Vietnam consists of ~150 corporate members; 30% Canadian, 30% international, and the remaining is made up of Vietnamese companies. They host Canadian events, such as Canada Day, Canadian Thanksgiving, and the largest Terry Fox run in the world! He shared the message that as Canadians we need to do a better job of promoting our agriculture products and services to the world.

Our final speaker of the day was Vu Le Y Voan, Vice Director of International Cooperation Department of the Vietnam Farmers Union (VFNU). She said that more than 70% of the population of Vietnam are farmers, and the VNFU assists farmers with everything from creating policies, advocating for farmers, organizing training courses for technical and scientific progress and technology, as well as providing input services such as seed, fertilizer, pesticides, to loans and credit to their members and promoting products and introducing farmers to markets.

We finished off our day with a dinner with the three ag leadership groups. It was a great day of learning about Vietnam and celebrating Canadian Agriculture Day from half way across the world.

Views: 534

Comment

You need to be a member of Ontario Agriculture to add comments!

Join Ontario Agriculture

Agriculture Headlines from Farms.com Canada East News - click on title for full story

John Deere Launches the New V452M Round Baler, Built for Productivity

John Deere (NYSE: DE) today announced the introduction of the V452M round baler to the North American lineup, providing enhanced productivity and precision to larger-scale hay and forage operations. The V452M headlines the newly updated lineup of VR and CR round baler models, introducing a new naming convention and advanced features purpose-built for heavy crop and silage conditions, while the current 1 Series round balers remain and continue to serve customers with their baling needs. "The V452M and the broader VR and CR model updates are designed for more density, more productivity and more actionable data," said Kaylene Ballesteros, John Deere marketing manager. "This update enhances our variable chamber and combination balers with features that support high-volume silage and heavy crop conditions, while complementing the proven performance of our 1 Series models. It's about giving our farmers and ranchers the right tool for their operation, whether they're baling 500 or 5,000 bale

John Deere Expands Operations Center Experience with New Customer E-Commerce Capabilities

John Deere Operations Center™ is now integrated with Shop.Deere.com enabling simplified parts ordering. Customers with factory maintenance plans can add parts for scheduled services directly to their cart and complete purchases. Customers and their approved John Deere dealers or independent service providers can jointly monitor and manage maintenance plans and parts ordering to help maximize uptime. Enhancing on-the-job convenience and expanding customer accessibility to machine data, John Deere unveils new user capabilities within John Deere Operations Center™. Customers utilizing Operations Center can now benefit from streamlined parts ordering through the newly integrated Shop.Deere.com feature. Customers with factory maintenance plans can add parts for scheduled services directly to their cart and complete purchases with confidence and ease. "We are continuously evolving John Deere Operations Center to simplify and enhance our customers' digital experience," said Katie Voelliger,

Tips and Tools to Make CBAM Emissions Reporting Easier

After a two-year transition period, full implementation of the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is set to begin on Jan. 1, 2026.   Designed to support the EU’s decarbonization goals, CBAM functions as a tariff placed on carbon emitted during the production of specific carbon intensive goods entering the EU single market, including aluminum, iron, and steel. This carbon tax requires companies to gather detailed supply chain information to determine the direct and indirect emissions associated with their products.  “CBAM charges a tariff on the embedded carbon content of certain imports from non-EU countries,” explained Amy Ryu, head of product at Tracera, an AI-powered sustainability data collection platform. This tariff is designed to counter the risk of “carbon leakage” that results from EU companies importing carbon intensive raw materials from abroad, as opposed to buying them from companies in the EU that must pay a carbon price. To that end, CBAM seeks

AEM Offers Recently Updated Industrial Ag Mower Safety Manual

AEM recently updated its Industrial Ag Mower Safety Manual in accordance with the association’s longstanding mission to provide up-to-date and industry-consensus safety materials that encourage safe equipment operation.  New updates include the use of pictorials from AEM’s Pictorial Database, modern formatting, and additional information on safe operation and maintenance. Its easy-to-follow pictorials and clearly stated safety warnings will help ensure operators understand the equipment's operation, capacity, mechanisms, maintenance, and intended uses.  “AEM member companies and their product safety experts play a crucial role in ensuring our manuals and safety materials represent best practices for safe equipment operation,” said AEM Safety Materials Manager Becca Basten.?“The Industrial Ag Mower Safety Manual is a longstanding safety resource for the operation of ag mowers, and it serves as a valuable resource for strengthening safety and training programs.”  The Industrial Ag Mow

Setting Foundations for Higher Yielding Soybeans

Timely planting, strong roots, balanced fertility, and disease control can help farmers boost soybean yields while keeping operations profitable and sustainable.

© 2025   Created by Darren Marsland.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service