Brazil the food bowl of the World 29/3/12

Brazil!! All I can say what a country. Our first arrival was to a little Dairy farm in Sao Jose Do Rio Preto and the dairy was only 20 Ha, but were running 115 mixed cows because of their cell grazing system.

Brazil's average rainfall is between 1000 to 2000ml of rain depending on where you live. Brazil has 400,000,000 ha of land that is being used for agriculture which is 47% of it's production where they are still developing more land for agriculture. It has a population of 220 million people and the average person gets paid $20 to $30 per day.

Farm size varies from 4ha right up to 95,000 ha. Sugar Cane is expanding rapidly. Their sugar industry produced 350 million tonnes of sugar last year and they have predicted a record crop of 500 million tonnes for this year. They have 200 million head of cattle and say they can triple their cattle numbers but they don't want to flood the market. But most important key to their future success is the amount of water in Brazil,it is 12% of the world's fresh water. One thing that the land is lacking a lot of phosphorus where most farmers have to apply between 120 to 800 kg to the hectare. Brazil's infrastructure still needs some developing as well. I believe this country is going to feed the world!!

Cimmyt Wheat Research Centre Obrengon, Mexico. 20/3/12

Today we visited Cimmyt (International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center) which is based in Obregon. Cimmyt was founded by Dr Norman E Dorlaug who has passed away. He was a man with great vision and passion for Wheat who knew what it was like on both sides of the fence, from the lab to the farm. There are over 40,000 testing plot sites on the farm, and 40% of the world's wheat is tested at Cimmyt. For me, I would rate it a world class research station.

Yosemite National Park California 18/3/12

Today we visited the historical, Yosemite National Park where there are geographic sites such as High Sierra, Granite Cliffs and Sequoia Groves. Yosemite Park would have to be one of the most memorable places on my Nuffield trip. Photos can not capture the beauty of this place. Timing was on our side and the park received three foot of snow in two days. To end the day we got to do some snow skiing at the Yosemite ski resort.

Big Beef 17/3/12

Today we visited Harris feedlot that is based at Coalinga, California and it can manage up to 120,000 head of cattle. At the moment they have 95,000 head. The feedlot is based on 800 acres employing 400 full-time workers. They feed 3 times a day where they put out 1400 tonnes of feed a day, and their ration is steamed corn, wheat and lucerne.

Day 3 in Corcoran California 16/3/12

Today we visited the biggest irrigated Cotton growers in the US, J.G. Boswell Company. They farm 125,000 acres and grow 10% of the tomatoes in the great Californian food bowl. They produced 200,000 bales of cotton this year that weigh 500 pounds each and own 85 cotton combines. Their rainfall is 300 mls of rain annually and employ 1500 workers in the busy season but have 500 permanent workers.

Day 1 in California 14/3/12

Today we visited Superior farms which is a lamb meatworks, built in 1923, near a town called Dixion. The plant kills about 1400 lambs a day. The lambs

are 9 to 12 months of age and dress out at 45kg hot weight. The plant is owned by the employees. There are about 154 people who work at the plant and there are 450 workers between the 4 companies. Superior Farms run a very clean and productive plant.

Canada

We arrived in Winnipeg and the temperature was -10 degrees. Our first visit was Cigi (Canadian grain research station) and spoke about what their role is in Canada for the grain farmers. All our time in Canada, we mainly visited grain industry plants. Brandon city was our second stop where we went to a Ice hockey game. We also had a game of curling.

We visited a dairy farm that milked 700 cows.

Most of the livestock have to live in barns for the winter.
We got the privilege to stay with local Canadian people in their homes and show us their culture. They were great people who made us feel at home. Canada is a great country and the people are friendly. They are very good farmers because they have a short window time to plant in, to work with their climate.

Washington DC

During our time in Washington DC, we saw a lot of well-known monuments and spoke to many Councillors and Senators about the farm bill. We visited the famous White house and Abraham Lincoln memorial.

London Trip

I will never forget the experience I have had in London. I have meet some amazing people and seen some unbelievable places. In our time in London, we visited Parliament House and saw some scenic countryside.