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Agricultural News


Future Oklahoma Agricultural Leaders Tour Ireland to Gain International Insights

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 18:10:54 CDT

Future Oklahoma Agricultural Leaders Tour Ireland to Gain International Insights
Eleven members of class nine of the Oklahoma Agricultural Leadership Encounter are touring Ireland. The purpose of their nine-day trip is to gain firsthand experience about agriculture in other countries.

The group has a full itinerary for the tour which includes a vast cross-section of Irish agricultural enterprises including organic farms, distilleries, stud farms, gardens, and research centers.

One of the first stops on the tour was the Ballard Organic Farm. The farm has been owned by the Lalor family since 1844. It was operated as an organic farm for the next 100 years. With the coming of industrial agriculture in the 1950s, the Ballard farm followed along.

In 1999, the farm's current owner, Pat Lalor decided to once again take the farm organic because the markets were sending the message "we want organic food and we are prepared to pay for it." He said the decision has been rewarding not only in economic terms, but also in job satisfaction.

Ashlyn Pfeiffer, one of the tour's participants from Alva, Oklahoma, said that satisfaction and happiness of Irish farmers is one of the most impressive and important lessons she has learned so far.

"We just got done talking with four farmers, and you could see that they loved it. They loved farming. And I think that's something that's really important. I think we need to continue to teach people more about why we do what we do, why we love agriculture so much. Here, they're not generations removed from the farm like we are in the United States. And I think that's something we need to work on, just passing on that love of farming."

Andy Barth, who will be a senior at OSU this fall, said one of the most impressive experiences to him so far was how farmers are able to use their marketing abilities to blend their operations with agritourism opportunities.

"Not only are they a dairy farm, but the manager and owner of the farm has used his marketing and business sense to turn it into a tourist attraction as well. His dairy cows are some of the official cows of the Bailey's Irish Coffee Corporation and his marketing abilities have really put his farm on the map."

Tour participants have also been impressed by how small the operations are, with most farms averaging from 100 to 200 acres. Whereas many of the farms in America are very specialized, many of the Irish farms are just the opposite, producing grain, livestock, dairy, and value-added products.

Mike Spradling, president of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau, said his organization has sponsored the OALE program since its inception.

"These young people who come through this program year after year are the top students in our college of agriculture at Oklahoma State University. These are the next generation of leaders that will be the policymakers of an industry that we care so much about and is so important to our livelihood. They see and understand when they come on these international trips what it is we have to compete with and I think that will make them better policy makers as we go into the future."


Press on the LISTEN BAR below to hear Ron Hays interview some of the OALE program participants.


   


   

Ron Hays talks with OALE trip participants.
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