CHINA!

International Leadership Seminar for State Officers
674 pictures
64 state officers
10 days
6 plane flights
4 cities
1 unforgettable journey

While most summaries are referred to as “in a nutshell”, I would like to refer to this as “in a teacup”. The first two weeks in January took President Kletscher, Secretary McNab, and Reporter Vilchis on a whirlwind of an adventure… to CHINA!

This is China through the eyes of a small town Minnesota girl. There were a few things I thought I knew about this country and its people before I traveled; turns out some of them needed a new perspective.

I knew that a lot of our American products came from china, but what I didn’t know is that a lot of Chinese products come from America. One of the stops on our trip was a wholesale fruit market, 38 acres of fruit filled trucks. 40% of the fruit at that market was imported from America, including such brands as Washington Apples and Sunkist. Another visit was to the Bunge Soybean Processing Plant. Most of the soybeans they crush at the plant come from American farmers. Who knows, maybe the soybeans that we raise on our very own Minnesotan farms end up here.

Knowing that China is literally located completely on the other side of the planet, I figured life there must be pretty different. Well, we got to spend a morning with students at the Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University. Two other state officers and I were paired with a student named Grace who was a senior studying public utility management. Getting to know someone relatively my own age was eye opening. Though some of the things she did from day to day were a little different from life in the US, we had a lot in common. We both were interested in agriculture, both wanting to learn about each other’s lives, and both loved our families.

Going to China was an incredible experience. I learned so much, experienced another culture and a different way of life and met so many new friends. This trip strengthened my pride in being directly involved in the agriculture industry. We have a huge responsibility, feed the world. China and America are the top counties when it comes to providing for the world. We can work together and we can provide this world with the nourishment it needs through a partnership to work for the greater good.

I never imagined I would travel to China, especially before I was even two decades old. But sometimes, life happens. I’ll leave you with this: “We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to the big differences that we often don’t foresee.” –Marian Wright Edelman

Stationed by the Ear of Corn,
Katie McNab