By DOUG GRAVES

Ohio Correspondent

DAYTON, Ohio — The day after New Year’s, 83 past and present FFA officers visited South Africa for a 12-day educational and cultural experience. The group participated in the 2019 International Leadership Seminar for State Officers (ILSSO) as an annual, international opportunity through the National FFA organization.

The trip allowed members to learn about international agriculture and become more knowledgeable regarding the global marketplace. While a few admitted to being homesick, many said they would go back in a heartbeat.

“The people in South Africa were just so happy to see us paying them a visit,” said Austin Becker, a senior at Fairbanks High School in Milford Center, Ohio. “It was also fascinating in that the people over there were not necessarily working on the efficiency and quantity like here in the U.S., but they work more towards quality and overall treatment of people.”

Becker and the others couldn’t help continuously comparing agriculture in the United States with that in South Africa.

“The dairy farms are not much different and the machinery used is about the same, but there are subtle differences,” he said. “We saw firsthand the very different operations. You just don’t see a lot of ostrich and crocodile farms here in the U.S. Overall, the general atmosphere is completely different.”

South Africa is one-eighth the size of the United States and has seven climatic regions, from Mediterranean to subtropical, to semi-desert. This biodiversity favors the cultivation of a highly diverse range of marine and agricultural products, from deciduous citrus and subtropical fruit to grain, wool, cut flowers, livestock, and game.

While 12 percent of South Africa’s land can be used for crop production, only 22 percent of this is high-potential arable land. The greatest limitation is the availability of water, with uneven and unreliable rainfall. Half of that water is used for agriculture.

Corn is the top crop, followed by wheat, sugarcane, and sunflowers. Citrus and deciduous fruits are exported, as are locally produced wine and flowers.

The group traveled throughout South Africa while surveying the agricultural landscape, toured crop and livestock operations, visited a private game reserve, and met with business and industry leaders.

Mattie Mink, of Elizabethtown, Ky., is a sophomore at Western Kentucky University and majoring in agriculture education. She said farming life is much easier in the U.S.

“It’s a day-and-night difference,” she said. “Here in the U.S. it’s easier to start a farm. In South Africa, a capital investment for a farm is four times more expensive than it is in our country; it’s not easy to start a farm over there. They also face a lot of backlash from their history, as there are a lot of racial divisions.

“There’s lots of places that remind you of the U.S. and it’s easy to forget you’re in a different country, but in some parts of South Africa you can get a three-course dinner easily, while in other parts it’s simply hard to get a ride from one’s community to the grocery story. Over there no blessing goes unrecognized.”

Mink and others had opportunity to see farmers in action and often lent a helping hand. “Their livestock industry is not like ours,” she said. “They have different meats there, like crocodile, eel, ostrich, antelope, and gazelle, to name a few. We think of these as exotic animals but to them it’s just another means of getting protein.

“They love the John Deere over there, too. John Deere is a big thing, but they are so expensive because it’s not manufactured anywhere close to South Africa.”

Gretchen Lee of Pettisville, Ohio, is an FFA state secretary. She will attend Dordt College next year with the intention of studying veterinary sciences or livestock genetics. While animals will be her focus in college, she couldn’t help but notice the struggle South Africans have in dealing with crops.

“The biggest difference is people over there are growing food in a totally different climate,” Lee reported. “They struggle with retaining moisture because the rains are few and far between and when they do get rain, they struggle to keep it in the ground. Their irrigation systems are expensive and hard to install due to their geographic landscapes, which are big hindrances.”

She was stunned to learn that corn and soybeans are top crops in South Africa, too.

“They grow two types of corn, yellow and white,” she said. “The white corn is for animal consumption and the yellow corn is reserved for the human population. What’s odd is there’s not a lot of outcry over their use of GMOs. They can go that direction without any public outcry.”

While insects play havoc on American farmers, that’s not the issue in South Africa. “In addition to moisture-retaining issues, the South Africans have to contend with a brutally hot sun. Their sun is intense, and when they grow tomatoes and peppers they keep them covered with shade tents.”

The group of 83 students dined often, sampling smoked springbok, ostrich burgers, and traditional South African pudding. They attended game reserves, seeing kudu, lions, crocodiles, cheetahs, rhinos, hippos, cape buffalo, baboons, warthogs, jackals, elephants, wildebeest, impala, nyala, sables, roans, ostriches, pythons, giraffes, and hartebeest.

They traveled to Blyde River Canyon, the third largest canyon in the world, and toured vineyards, where table and wine grapes are abundant.

They also visited the African Leadership Academy, where 46 African countries are represented in a student body of 300 students ages 16-19. At this school, students learn skills that they will need to start businesses, create projects, or lead others in a career field that will impact their communities and countries.

All three Americans said they couldn’t put a price on their trip. “I’d go back in a heartbeat,” Mink said. “Absolutely. I’m trying to figure out how to get back there as soon as possible.”

“This trip was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Lee added, “in terms of what we did and who we got to meet. I think it would be useful for even anyone outside of FFA to see the culture in this country, as we got to learn about its history, culture, food, and agriculture.”

Thirteen FFA officers who participated in this trip live in this region. Those from Iowa included Alexis Berte (Algona), Gweneth Black (Jefferson), and Laken Mullinix (Akron). Those from Tennessee included Anna Grace Brown (Humboldt), Chloe Ford (Jonesborough), Garrett Franklin (Celina), Tarrah Ivy (Decaturville), Luke Love (Murfreesboro), and Makenzie Moorhead (Taft). And Kristin Klager (Saline) attended from Michigan.