Leave your Chewing Gum and Durians at Home -- Singapore: Day 11 (5/31)

As we said "Good-bye" to Malaysia, we had one more stop before our long trek home.  Singapore is a city-state, so it's hard to believe that we would be able to make agricultural visits there.  During our time in the pristine city, we learned more about the economics and communication industry as it relates to international agriculture.

Before our meetings we had a bit of time to look around the city.  Singapore law states that you will be fined if you are caught with chewing gum, durian, and littering.  Durian is a fruit which for its taste is desired in other Southeast Asian countries, but for it's strong (bad) odor is illegal in Singapore.  This most likely contributed to why the city was so clean.  While walking around, I felt that I was in a city from the future!

A view of Singapore, including the ferris-wheel and a building with  a boat design on top

The first meeting was with Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT).  CME and CBOT are a risk management company that has a focus on international trade, including grain and other agricultural products and the futures and options associated with those industries.  Although futures and options are way out of my comfort zone of knowledge, it was great to be exposed to them because it may not be obvious, they affect us.  In particular, corn prices are always in every agriculturalists' mind and whoever has control of the market can make a big difference.  Another interesting thing about the risk management portion of CME and CBOT (hedging) is that they also deal with weather risks.

Going over the history of the CBOT

Following our lesson on options and futures, we got to learn more about agricultural communications with Bloomberg.  Bloomberg is another international company that not only supplies news to the world (including agriculture news), but they sell terminals, which is software packages that provide companies with subscriptions of constant information about anything they could need, such as market trends.

Margery and me in the ferris wheel
Photo credit: Margery

For the rest of the evening we got to take in the elements of the city.  Margery, Marty, Anne, and I decided to take a ride on a large ferris-wheel like thing to view the city from above.  Although Margery and I are on the frugal side, we felt that the view was worth the price.  We finished up the evening with a nice family style meal with traditional chili crab (which was too spicy for me!).

Enjoying ice cream in Singapore!

Our one and only day in Singapore was bittersweet.  We got to wrap up our adventures by completing SWOT analysis for Malaysia and Singapore after spending one last day expanding our knowledge agriculturally and culturally.  We were sad to be leaving this up-and-coming region in the world and our new found friends.  The next day we spent flying back to good 'ole U.S.A. and parting ways to our homes and further agriculture adventures.  I-CAL was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had from an educational and networking perspective.  I hope that this blog will encourage other young agriculturalists to apply for I-CAL and to also branch out and take chances.  I almost didn't apply for I-CAL and looking back, if I hadn't it would have been a huge mistake.

Thanks for following and I hope you have enjoyed Shasta's I-CAL Adventures!

Wet Markets to Fine Dining: Day 11 (5/30)

A vendor at the wet market cleaning a sting-ray

Our last day in Malaysia took us to a wide range of locations.  We began the day bright and early to another wet market.  This market was larger and more open than those visited in Vietnam.  Also, there was a larger selection of products, particularly marine life.  Many of the stands had live products that could be processed directly in front of you!  Even though there was a supermarket directly next door, people seemed to inclined to purchase from the wet market.  We asked Shellen at one point where she purchases her groceries.  During the week, when she is short on time, she goes to the grocery store.  But on weekends when she can spend the time to make a home-cooked meal, she goes to the wet market.  This is similar to those who visit the farmers market in my college town of Blacksburg, Virginia.  I wasn't expecting an answer like this, but it was interesting to find out how similar cooking meals in Malaysia is to that of the United States.

Me, McKenzie, and Nellie with the long row of cranes at Westport

After the wet market we moved on to our visit to Westport.  This is one of three port facilities with Port Klang (the others are North and South port).  This port is ranked 13th in the world and is a Free Trade location.  The port ships many things in bulk, the main categories of shipments include: dry bulk (agriculture products and minerals), liquid, and vehicles.  Once we had the overview, we got to go out to the port and see how huge it really was!  This visit was really interesting because even though in Virginia we have ports (Norfolk) I really don't have much knowledge about them.

The rest of the day was filled with sight-seeing and networking.  One of the most spectacular sights in Kuala Lumpur is the Petronas Towers.  They are the tallest twin towers in the world!  We got to travel up to the 86th floor and walk across the bridge that connects the two towers.  It was a great view of the city, and I was able to get a souvenir spoon for my collection.

Shadow of the Petronas Towers over Kuala Lumpur

Later in the evening we got to wrap things up from our previous agricultural visits.  The U.S. Grains Council hosted a networking event in which we got to have further conversations with the professionals we had met along our trip, and new folks as well.  This was a career opportunity that not very many people our age get to have!

The next post will finish up the I-CAL adventure with notes from our day in Singapore!

The Culture in Agriculture: Day 10 (5/29)

As we got closer to the end of our trip, we had the opportunity again to meet with U.S. officials working in Southeast Asia.  This gave us a chance to get overviews of Malaysia and Singapore agriculture and how their culture influences their industry.  We also got to learn more about some controversial industry within agriculture of Southeast Asia and then some shopping.

Attaché Rittgers presenting at the U.S. Grains Council office, as Bethany O. takes notes

Our first meetings of the day began at the U.S. Grains office where our dear friends and leaders, Adel and Shellen, have their offices.  We could tell that Adel felt right at home, because he worked in his socks.  We began with a meeting with Chris Rittgers, agricultural attaché for Malaysia and Singapore for the USDA.  The second presentation was by Adel, further discussing Malaysian agriculture.  These discussions were very informative and clarifying.  

From these conversations we were able to understand the importance of having Halal standards for food.  We had heard this several times during our Malaysian tours, but didn't really understand.  It is the way food is processed in order to be edible by Islamic law.  In Malaysia there are prominent ethnic groups which provide the demand for this market.  Sadly there is also a lot of self-segregation between groups (55% Malay, 25% Chinese, 10% Indian and others). Having questions like these answered during our meetings allowed us to tie together the information from our tours and apply it to culture.

On a side note, this meeting also hit close to home.  During this entire trip, I personally felt that a lot of the trade between the U.S. and Southeast Asia never directly influenced my state of Virginia.  As mentioned before, the students on this trip were mostly from California or the Mid-West.  Then you have Virginia and North Carolina representing the Eastern part of the country during the 2012 I-CAL.  The two states aren't known for grain, or high production like the states' of our teammates.  After a conversation with Adel, we found that Southeast Asia (particularly Vietnam) really likes to import apples and Christmas trees from Virginia and North Carolina!

Also, I got to have another discussion with Adel about the demand for dairy products in Southeast Asia.  Being raised on a dairy farm, I always like to know how others feel about my family's livelihood.  Apparently, there is a growing demand for dairy, which makes sense due to the growing middle class of Asia as a whole.  More specifically, according to Adel, there is a want for milk so that children will grow bigger and taller.  The milk that is currently being imported to Southeast Asia comes from Australia.  McKenzie (who is from a dairy farm is Wisconsin) and I decided to move to Malaysia, start a dairy, and export it to Vietnam.  Great plan, right?  Anyway, it was really nice to feel more connected to the industries we were exploring during I-CAL.

A display during our tour at the Malaysian Palm Oil Board

While we traveled throughout Malaysia, almost anywhere there wasn't buildings, there were palm oil trees.  We had the opportunity to learn more about the palm oil industry in Malaysia during our time with the Malaysian Palm Oil Board later in the day.  Currently, Malaysia is the world leading producer, Indonesia, but exports more (40% of global supply).  Along with the increased interest in palm oil usage globally, there is controversy. 

Mine and McKenzie's favorite isle at
Ben's Independent Grocer (B.I.G.)

The rest of the evening was spent at a grocery store and a night market!  At the grocery store we got to see a different side of food distribution for Southeast Asia.  The store was huge and had anything you could ask for!  Marge splurged on her precious Nutella, and McKenzie and I made sure we got plenty of dairy products!  Once again we got to haggle for souvenirs at the night market.  Day 10 was a great example of how we learned about agriculture and culture not only through meetings, but engaging in everyday life -- like shopping!

Take care and keep your eyes out for a new blog post soon!   

Getting Stuck in Holes in Vietnam Can Open Doors

Once again I divert my attention from the adventures of my I-CAL excursion to related topics.  This go round I'd like to discuss the opportunities I've had because of my involvement with I-CAL.

As a part of the I-CAL program you are asked to present about your trip to educational and business groups.  I had the opportunity to present to the Collegiate FFA Chapter and Dairy Club at Virginia Tech.  I will also have to opportunity to speak about my trip with the Virginia State Feed Association in February.

The CFFA presentation was a great way to start off the fall semester!  Friends of mine, Joy and David, also presented about their involvement with CFFA at the national level with their participation in New Century Farmer and National Collegiate Agriculture Ambassadors Programs, respectively.  It was a great night letting fellow CFFA members know about the opportunities that they have to grow professionally, serve the agriculture industry, and have a great time!

Dairy Club decided to have "Internship Month" for our October meetings.  It was really great to present among the really awesome dairy internships that our members participated in.  Sadly, Dairy Club is not one of the listed organizations that can participate in I-CAL.  But many of our members are in other organizations such as Alpha Zeta, FarmHouse, and Alpha Gamma Rho.  

My upcoming presentation for Virginia State Feed Association will be a great time reconnecting with members of the industry.  I have been fortunate enough to meet with this group before through their scholarship program.  In fact, they were the ones that helped me realize my connection with the grain and feeds industry.  If it weren't for them, I might not have applied for I-CAL in the first place.

2012 Collegiate FFA Convention Staff

Here recently, I had another opportunity to share my experience with I-CAL in another manner.  At the 2012 National FFA Convention I was able to serve on Collegiate Staff.  I loved making new friends from all over who were active in CFFA as well.  Promoting CFFA and hosting Collegiate events such as Amazing Race and socials was a blast!

And the opportunities continue!  Through my blog and promotion through my study abroad credit, I hope to let the Virginia Tech agricultural community know about the I-CAL program and the great opportunities that follow it.  Thanks for keeping up and the next blogs should wrap up my trip!  Happy Thanksgiving!