By DEBORAH BEHRENDS
Illinois Correspondent

LELAND, Ill. — Buenos Aires, Argentina, is nearly 5,000 miles from the tiny LaSalle County community where Jeff Barnes grew up. Until he became the Illinois state FFA treasurer, he said the furthest south he had traveled was the southern part of his home state.

An FFA member since his freshman year at Leland High School, Barnes has taken off what should be his sophomore year at Joliet Junior College to serve in his statewide position and “dedicate my life to FFA. It involves a lot of long days and short nights, and I’m on call 24 hours a day.”

Barnes spent a recent Sunday sharing his Argentine experience with a room full of family, friends and sponsors in his hometown of just under 1,000 residents. He was among 70 FFA officers nationwide taking part in the international trip.
The Illinois contingent left snowy Bloomington Jan. 3 to fly to Atlanta, on to Miami and then a nine-hour flight to Buenos Aires. But their journey actually began with group meetings to learn about the culture in Argentina, working toward “establishing a global mindset.”

Barnes’ first impression upon arrival: “Everyone is speaking Spanish. Other than our group, very little English is heard.” Most drinks are available in glass bottles, which are recycled, as opposed to all the plastic bottles used in the United States. Futbol, or what Americans call soccer, is huge there. And the countryside is very flat.

“There aren’t as many acres in pasturelands, like I expected. Argentine farmers are turning their pastures into corn and soybean acres,” Barnes said.
The officers’ first farm visit was with Alejan-dro Calderon, a wealthy producer who grows hundreds of acres of corn and soybeans, raises red and black Angus and does custom harvesting for other operations. Calderon uses New Holland combines, Deutz Allis AGCO tractors, owns a 700,000-bushel elevator and sells Syngenta products.

The group also visited Rosario, the San Martin Terminal where producers pay a 35 percent export tax on soybeans, took a boat ride down the Parana River and visited a polo pony farm. They also visited a small 175-acre farm that specialized in sheep and agritourism.

A gaucho demonstration and a visit to a livestock market rounded out their experiences. “It was a great trip and I’m grateful to my sponsors for helping me experience it,” Barnes said.