YO! First Taste of Vietnamese Agriculture: Day 4 (5/23)

Daniel and Nellie soaking in the knowledge that Jeanne Bailey has to offer

Our first full day in Vietnam began after a great breakfast with a debriefing from the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) and the U.S. Grains Council about Vietnamese agriculture and trade.  Jeanne Bailey and Tran Quoc Quan gave us an overview of the future of Vietnamese and U.S. agricultural trade from the FAS viewpoint.  This meeting helped us to realize how Southeast Asia is an emerging power and complementary trade partner for the U.S.  Jeanne really helped us to see that even though Vietnam has several obstacles for agricultural growth, they are gaining momentum.  Vietnam is at a crossroads with several international trade agreements such as its involvement with the WTO and the TPP.   Depending on which way the government chooses to go, there will either be harder times to come or structural reform.  Besides these barriers, Vietnam will likely become a leading rice exporter.  Also, they are the top Asian pork producing nation and the 4th leading Asian feed producer.

On the way to the feed mill we visited a "wet market," Asian equivalent of a farmer's market

Adel Yusupov, Southeast Asia Regional Director for the U.S. Grains Council, further connected the dots for us during another Vietnam briefing about the industry from the U.S. Grains Council point of view.  Since Vietnam is a high pork producer, where do they get their feeds from? US!  This only part of the reason that we should utilize the connection between Vietnam and the U.S. through the U.S. Grains Council.  We are large producer of commodities used for feed such as DDGS (dried distillers grains with solubles), corn, and soybeans, and can provide for their demand.

Following our enlightening meeting we visited Thanh Binh Feed Mill which is a diversified operation including a broiler breeder aspect, rubber tree plantation, and swine farm.  The mill utilizes many ingredients including DDGS which we mentioned is a U.S. import, but also local crops such as cassava and peanut.  Integrated into our tour of the facilities was a animal nutrition meeting between livestock producers and Dr. Budi, who is also with the U.S. Grains Council.   Following our tour of the mill Mr.Ph Duc Binh, owner and operator, hosted us for dinner which was filled with many cheers by yelling: "YO!" a Vietnamese characteristic of gatherings.

fishmeal was another product of the mill

The presentations and the tour showed us the opportunities that Vietnam has domestically and internationally for their agriculture.  When it comes to U.S. opportunity in Vietnam, we are complementary to them, but so are other markets such as South America and the even closer Australia.  How will we balance and all come up on top?  This may never be answered, but further along down the road of this I-CAL adventure we will uncover more about the future of these markets.

Keep trekking along to find out what adventures we will continue to find in Vietnam!

Sleep Lounges, $8 Showers, and Pho: Day 3 (5/22)

First glimpse of Asian landscape in Hong Kong

Bright and early...well, just early, we headed to the airport for a long journey over the Pacific.  Although we did not have many sight-seeing opportunities we covered a lot of ground.  Our stop-over (fuel-up) in Hong Kong gave some team members' their first sight of Asia and a chance for Starbucks.  The long layover in Shanghai gave us a glimpse of the spotless life in there.  Shanghai was the final destination of the I-CAL adventure, which will be covered more later on.  After making sure we had gotten rid of any chewing gum (which is a fine-able act there!) we explored the massive airport.  Many of us visited the butterfly sanctuary inside.  Other interesting options at the airport were free movie screenings, lots of shopping, sleep lounges, and $8 showers at the Spa.  After the 13 hours plus on an airplane, the cost of the shower was worth it!

Butterflies from the sanctuary in Singapore Airport

Well rested, we loaded back on the plane to Vietnam.  Ho Chi Minh City (formally known as Saigon) was our home-place after landing.  Our first evening in Ho Chi Minh was simply a nice dinner of Pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) with Adel, Shellen, and Chen, our contacts from the U.S. Grains Council in Southeast Asia.  From there we headed back to the hotel to get rested for our first full day in Vietnam!

Keep following as we get into the agriculture and trade of Vietnam!  More posts to come soon!

Day 1 & 2: San Francisco and Orientation (5/19 & 5/20)

After pulling an all-nighter trying to get packed and get my nerves in order, my parents dropped me off in Charlotte, North Carolina for my flight across the country.  During the layover I had the opportunity to meet one of my I-CAL teammates, Daniel, who attends North Carolina State University.  Once we landed in San Francisco we figured that sight-seeing would be our next step.  Sadly, we did not realize that there were two hotels with the exact same name.  Therefore, we originally went to the wrong side of town.  Eventually, we made it to the correct hotel, got settled, and were off to explore the city.

Trying to figure out where to go next!

Without a true plan in mind, we took the Bart (underground railway system for San Francisco) and began walking toward Fisherman's Warf.  We hoped to see the warf, the Bay Bridge, and after talking to a local, to visit "Little Italy."  Although we never made it to the bridge (it just kept getting further, and further away!), we had a great time getting "ticketed" (not legitimate, our tickets were stickers), exploring life around Fisherman's Warf, and making our way to "Little Italy" with the help of Daniel's new I-Phone for a great dinner.  After getting back to the hotel, I got to meet Bethany M. my roommate, who attends Missouri State.  We got ready for a long day of orientation and travel the next day.

Day two finally gave us all the opportunity to meet all of our team members.  The twelve teammates were from all over!  The team was as follows:

Daniel: North Carolina State University

McKenzie: University of Wisconsin-River Falls

Breanne: University of Missouri-Columbia

Nellie: Kansas State

Karl: Iowa State University

Margery: University of California- Davis

Bethany M.: Missouri State University

Bethany O.: Iowa State University

Mathias: University of Minnesota- Twin Citites

Edward: University of California-Davis

Shasta: Virginia Tech

Sarah: University of California-Davis

During orientation we covered many topics during orientation from getting to know one another, to the industries we will learn more about in Vietnam, Malaysia, and Singapore.  Ann, who is from the U.S. Grains Council and attended the trip with us, gave us overviews of the purpose of the U.S. Grains Council and The Grains Foundation.  In a nutshell, the U.S. Grains Council is a non-profit organization that focuses on increasing U.S. trade internationally in whole and processed barley, corn, and sorghum.  The Grains Foundation is like the Council's support system.  Both, help to make I-CAL possible.  All team members had prepared a presentation about a given topic, related to something that we would encounter on our trip.  Topics varied from Malaysian Agriculture Overviews, to Palm Oil Industry, to the Culture of Southeast Asia.  The presentations made us more comfortable with what we were going to experience in these nations.  We obviously covered what the expectations were of us during and after the trip, along with answering any other questions.  

Ann, giving us the mission of The Grains Foundation

The day was finished up with a last minute Target trip and our last American meal for two weeks.  It was a great time to bond and get refreshed before our 14 hour flight or so the following morning at 1:20 AM.

Although I was very nervous before the initial journey to California, sight-seeing and orientation made me more comfortable about what to expect.  We learned a lot in short amount of time, that was to be our foundation of the wave of knowledge we were to gain over the next few weeks.  It was only the beginning...

Keep following to hear about our long flight, layover in Singapore, and our first night in Vietnam!

Back it up, for Background Info

Before we can dive into Shasta's I-CAL Adventures I should probably give all you "newbies" some information about the program.  As mentioned previously, I-CAL is the acronym for International Collegiate Agricultural Leadership Program.  This program began in 2006 to provide an opportunity for agriculture students to apply knowledge gained from international travel to their future careers and further education.  The program is a conjunction with the National FFA Organization, U.S. Grains Council and The Grains Foundation.  Therefore, the program focuses around grain industries, but is inclusive of all sectors of agriculture and how they play a role in international agriculture and global marketing.

Each year the program chooses a different region to learn about.  Regions have varied from Northeast Africa, South America, and this year Southeast Asia.  The students complete an application and sometimes an interview process.  These students are active members of various agricultural organizations at the collegiate level, not necessarily just FFA.  Many universities from coast-to-coast are represented.  During the approximately two week trip, participants will tour different agricultural operations and facilities and meet with industry members and leaders.  Reflections and analysis are completed to gain greater perspectives of how these international industries and the U.S. interact and will impact the future of agriculture.

I-CAL is a once in a lifetime opportunity, which can apply any career path.  Even if one is not interested in specifically pursuing a career in international grain marketing and trade, this opportunity will give participants greater insight to the world around them and the parts played by their own nation and others.  If you are involved agricultural clubs at the collegiate level, I highly encourage you to look into applying for I-CAL and possibly changing your life forever!

Keep following Shasta's I-CAL Adventures to learn more about I-CAL and all it has to offer!

Every Journey Has a Beginning...

Hello!  I am Shasta, an uprising Senior at Virginia Tech studying Agricultural Sciences.  This blog is to take you with me on my recent adventures to South East Asia through the International Collegiate Agricultural Leadership (I-CAL) Program.  While on this trip I was unable to blog, but journaled instead.  Over the next few weeks or so I will update those journal entries on here for you to enjoy!  To continue the blog, I hope to post about presentations I give or moments when what I learned during I-CAL are incorporated into daily life.

Thank you for checking out Shasta's I-CAL Adventures, and be ready for more to come!