Canada - my fellow travellers



Natalie Williams, Crosby Devitt, Ray Vella, Ryan Smart, Bryan Granshaw, Damian Murphy, Rhys Arangio, myself.

March 6 - more meetings in Washington DC

White House

Today was full on meetings - 8 presentations, but very informative.

 

We learnt lots about the Farm Bill. It is an instrument used to determine investment in Welfare, Environment and Agriculture. In brief, the USDA through the Farm Bill, spend about $93 billon p.a. although this next bill is under pressure to reduce because of the national debt situation.

 

Thomas Jefferson memorial

 

 

 

Of this Farm Bill about 75-80% is spent on food and nutrition mostly in the form of food stamps which are distributed to low income families. These food stamps are used to buy food from supermarkets (no alcohol or tobacco). This portion of the budget is increasing due to the rise in unemployment following the global financial collapse.



 

 

 

 

Crop insurance is an interesting concept for Australian farmers to get their heads around. There has been a move away from direct subsidy payments being made to farmers as this is seen to be trade distorting in world trade negotiations. However, payments made by government to private insurance companies for crop insurance are not considered to be trade distorting through the eyes of the World Trade Organisation. How it works is that private insurance companies not only insure against crop losses from weather events but also from losses associated with low commodity prices - essentially providing payment if market prices drop. The government pay approx. 40% of farmers premiums plus the insurance companies office expenses, plus insurance commissions. Very interesting. That's one method of increasing domestic food security.

 

Also heard from a top agricultural lawyer who defends farmers. He gave an interesting insight into the amount of litigation taking place against farmers in the USA. There is pressure being applied from environmental groups, animal rights movements, water quality organisations, organic farmers and anti GM activists. His views were that these groups are well funded and have political support, and given that farmers represent only a small % of the population and support for environmental factors are growing, this threatens the future of primary production in the USA and this effect is likely to occur in Australia in coming years.

 

Abraham Lincoln memorial

Had discussions with the vice president of the USA Wheat Association marketing dept. He gave us an overview of world markets for wheat sales and trends in production.

Also had a presentation from manager of international affairs for John Deere (tractor manufacturers) They have an aggressive target of doubling their turnover from 25 to 50 billion $US p.a. To achieve this they are looking to increase sales into developing countries and growing their construction machinery market share. They are also moving into irrigation supplies.

 

 

 

In the evening we went on a Washington DC lights tour. We boarded a bus and viewed most of DC's main attractions. It was very interesting but very cold.

Tomorrow we have the morning for free time and then we leave Washington DC behind and fly to Winnipeg, Canada. Will update blog when I can. Cheers.

March 5 - Washington DC

Flew into Washington DC last night after 8.5 hour flight from London . This morning we travelled to the Canadian Embassy - this photo is our group at the embassy. We met both the Canadian and Australian Agricultural Councillors for a presentation on trade between Canada, USA and Australia. Learnt that the worlds largest bilateral trade agreement exixts between USA and Canada - worth $645 billion US p.a. Canada imports winter fruit and veg from USA and USA imports lots of grains and beef from Canada. Australia exports large amounts of beef, wine, lamb and some citrus to the USA.

After lunch we met with senior Democrat and Republican staff to hear about the Farm Bill. This Farm Bill is rewritten every 5 years and sets the agriculture investment policy and budget. There is currently a bit of excitement about the Farm Bill because it is overdue for release right now. They are hoping it will be completed by September but is looking unlikely because of the nation's election. After the meetings we did a bit of sight seeing around Capitol Hill.  

It is very cold - as I was looking at the White House it began to snow. This is my first ever snow event. Good fun but freezing!!

March 3 - Inspirational Farm Visits

Today we left the city of London behind for a very welcome trip into the countryside. Our first stop was at Willow Farm which is an unusual but very dynamic business. Willow Farm is about 15 miles from London but still has a population of approx. 4 million people living within a 30 min drive. This farm is about 1800 acres and still runs a cropping program but the majority of income is earned from an open farm concept which is targeted at young families and school groups. Urban kids get the opportunity to see livestock up close, participate in vegetable growing and harvesting as well as play in a playground and large indoor fun centre. My observation was that not only were the kids having heaps of fun but so too were the parents. This open day attracts around 500,000 visitors a year with as many as 2000 –3000 a day at busy times.

This business also utilizes farm buildings and vacant land by leasing to other business to run their enterprises from this farm. There were about 70 lease agreements from a range of diverse businesses like a private school, machinery dealer, composting refuse, model airplane club, horse and dog clubs etc. etc..

 Later we visited another farmer and were able to stroll around the farm with him, looking at his farming operation and discussing farming/environmental programs he was involved in. I was surprized to learn that badgers which have had a population explosion and are protected, are a major contributor to the cattle T.B. problem in the U.K. The U.K. farmers in the group seemed very respectful of the badgers living on their farms and I didn't sense any desire from them to reduce numbers. In fact I gave a high score for the farmer's environmental program which included bird boxes in many large trees and monitoring bird populations, planting of windbreak hedges for habitat, control of traffic movement and run of educational days where members of local village are welcomed out to learn about the farm. Also learnt that this farmer has had ancient roman foundations for temples discovered on his farm which date back about 2000 years.




Here's a photo of myself, James Walker (livestock producer from Longreach Qld) and Bryce Riddell (cropping & fodder from Yarrawonga Vic)

Headed back to London for our last night before flying out to Washington D.C. tomorrow.

March 2 - The Nash Room on Pall Mall

Today we were at The Nash Room on Pall Mall. This is a majestic old building with lots of history. The building is decorated with statues and works of art, with portraits of members of the royal family and old battles like the Battle of Trafalgar. Some of these are hundreds of years old.

Our first speaker was Dr David Hughes (whom I had previously heard speak in Qld). He gave his thoughts on leadership in the global food industry. World popoulation is predicted to increase to 9 billion by 2050 but where is this growth likely to occur? Dr Hughes raised our awareness of population trends. Japan is predicted to reduce by 30 million over the next 40 years whilst Asia and Africa are likely to increase by 1 billion each. This creates opportunities.

Dr Randwick presented on the economic power of agriculture. Who has power? is it farmers - large or small? large traders/merchants eg. supermarkets? is it agribusiness eg. seed, chemical, fertilizer companies? This discussion made me stop and think and recognize that the changing dynamics and challenges ahead with increasing competition for resources, in particular water, global agricultural power is likely to continue to change - placing increasing pressure on local domestic production.
We had an interesting address by a consultant who runs his own business coaching senior level executives in both private and public sectors. His expertize lies in discretely helping these individuals make positive impacts with assurance, confidence and demonstrating leadership. He gave us tips on energy, passion, body language, etiquette and speaking techniques. His influence had all our scholarship group self assessing!


The day concluded with a brilliant guided tour through Parliament House and Westminster Hall.The history here is very rich. The architecture of Westminster Hall is grand and has stood for nearly 1000 years. The rest of the parliament buildings were re-built following the bombardment of World War 2. This place has amazing stories which go back through history including Guy Fawkes' attempt to blow up Parliament House, William Wallace, Rob Roy, Knights of the Round Table, Winston Churchill and many, many more. A truly remarkable history. Unfortunately we were unable to take photos because of security. We were very privileged to be taken on this tour as Westminster Hall is not otherwise open to the public.

March 1 - New Zealand House

Spent today at New Zealand House thanks to the courtesy of the NZ High Commissioner. NZ House is a very large building and we were located on the top floor with magnificent views over London. This photo is taken with some of the statues in Trafalgar Square.

Views from New Zealand House overlooking Trafalgar Square.

Big Ben in the background. Had an address from a senior policy team member from the Soil Association. This organization oversees organic farming practices and product certification. They also try to influence policies on health food practices including introducing healthy food systems to schools and hospitals, and campaign against the use of GMs and pesticides etc. The main message from this address was: Healthy soils - healthy people - healthy planet.

Our next presentation was on what drives change in food and farming practices. This was an interesting discussion which covered influences of modern day challenges to farming like environmental concerns, resource scarcity, food sovereignty, super-supermarket retailers, GMs and the organic debate, government policy and trade issues.

A representative from ANZ Bank gave an update on the global and European financial situation. We were then addressed by a NZ Trade Commissioner together with reps from Australia, USA and UK delegations who gave overviews of the workings of the World Trade Organization and Free Trade Agreement process.

I now have a better appreciation of how difficult some of these negotiations are and why there are long periods of stand-offs between countries before agreements are made.

We had evening drinks at the top of New Zealand House overlooking the lights of London and were fortunate when the Nuffield Patron H.R.H. the Duke of Gloucester could join us. He addressed the 2012 scholars in an inspriational talk and challenged us to become better farmers. He applauded our efforts in getting out to see other farms in order to achieve this goal.

Feb 29 - Marketing & Innovations in Dutch Agribusiness

Today we visited Koppert Cress factory where they produce micro herbs on a large scale. www.koppertcress.com 

Here edible herbs are gorwn in artificial soil. This entrepreneurial business grows a wide range of different edible plants which are grown in trays of artificial soil - but this is only half the story! The other half, is the surprising flavours of some of these micro herbs. The people behind this business have travelled all over the world identifying culinery plant species suitable for this purpose. They then work very closely with chefs to demonstrate how they're used. We had a tasting session - some tasted like radish, honey, mustard and even oysters!

Large quantities of these plants are supplied to markets throughout Europe and further afield. We had an address from a fresh food expert with a flair for marketing and value adding product. He encouraged us to consider thinking like a consumer and finding ways of motivating and telling the story behind our products.

Also enjoyed a presentation from the Koppert Cress boss Rob Baan, which I found truly inspriational. Rob ran us through the history and evolution of the human diet and compared with our current day diets. He related increasing obesity and cancer rates to the modern day diet of the western world. Rob is passionate and driven to promote a healthy balanced diet consisting of a higher intake of fresh plants, reduced meat and less processed foods.

We then travelled to Amsterdam airport and flew into Heathrow/London. I have really enjoyed our time in the Netherlands and feel I now know a little about their agricultural businesses. I am certainly very respectful of their achievements in innovation, production, logistics and marketing.