USA / Washington DC / Pennsylvania...Living the dream....

I am not interested in power for power's sake, but I'm interested in power that is moral, that is right and that is good....

Martin Luther King Jr

Washington DC.......

(This is the final blog from my Nuffield Global Focus Research tour....BUT not the final blog for my research, I will return to assist with harvest, continue with my agri consulting and commence with agribusiness training out in the regional areas in Feb/March 2013, but will have a couple of final trips during mid 2013 to USA, possibly South America and New Zealand thanks for your continued interest and support of reading my blogs it has been an amazing, surreal experience.....)

The famous Reflecting Pools of Washington DC with fellow Aussie Nuffield Ewan.......

It is truly a mystery to me that with all the travel I have done over the years that I have never ventured into USA territory,  so our visit to Washington DC  (and Pennsylvania) where the hub of modern power and democracy exists was a magnificent introduction to leadership, power and a modern day global empire.....

Monument depicting the famous raising of the USA flag in the WW2 battle of Iwo Jima...

From the US presence in wars to the statesmanship and leadership that America is famous for we travelled around Washington DC at night looking at famous monuments and statues and hearing the stories about the legends who have written history as it stands....Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr, the heros of WW2 battle of Iwo Jima, JFK eternal flame...the list goes on and on and standing looking at the famous monuments you cannot help but be captured by the sense of leadership and collective power of famous, influential American individuals in this beautiful city....history came alive during the balmy autumn DC evenings and under the mellow evening city lights........

Abraham Lincoln the President who lead the States during the great civil war of the 1860's, 5 days after the Southern confederates had surrendered Lincoln was assassinated in the theatre by a confederate sympathiser his leadership is revered in USA as being the man who kept the Union of states together

Looking from the Lincoln monument, over the reflection pools to the Washington monument, until the Eiffel tower was built in the 1889 the Washington monument was the world highest building...

One of the worlds great orators, Martin Luther King Jr changed the thinking of modern day America and united a nation to accept all racial differences with his "I have a dream...." speech...those who know me know how I love a great quote.....and he has some of the best.....

Monument to Martin Luther King Jr..

Arriving in Washington DC after  a 14 hour flight from France we dressed up for meetings, caught the subway and pounded the streets meeting with high level officials from the US Senate and House of Representatives, Australian and New Zealand embassy and the powerful US farm bureau, and found out the following:-

1. We were so lucky to be visiting DC while the Presidential elections were on as there was opinions on every street corner, we become interested in the Presidential debates to the point we stayed in one night to watch the debate...Aussies doing that....go figure!!!  There was no definitive feeling of who would win, they all believe it will be very close....

2. There is talk about both the Democrats and Republicans committing to wiping 4 trillion dollars off the US debt over the next decade, and most believe this will be done with massive budget cuts....speaking of budgets, did you know that in the whole time Obama has been President that his budgets have never been passed, such is the discord that exists on Capitol Hill between the Democrats and Republicans

3.  The Direct Farm Payments (subsidies) that US farmers have been receiving for years will be removed in the next farm bill, both the Senate and House of Representatives have delivered their versions of the new Farm Bill however it is unlikely that it will be agreed upon by both side of Government prior to the election...there are many on Capitol Hill who believe that if Obama  loses the election then the "fiscal cliff" under the Republicans will result in the farm bill and agricultural support being slashed in catastrophic portions....what impact this will have on global agriculture is hard to quantify

4. The best support that the US farmers have currently is the crop production insurance schemes, where the US Government will subsidise and underwrite the production insurance...the talk is that even though mid west USA has had massive drought during 2012, many producers will have record income due to this subsidised insurance and the high prices.....again..(a deep sigh)....if only we could have such a system in Australia.....farming would be so less stress free....particularly after another dry spring in southern Australia......

Capitol Hill Washington DC

We hear a lot about the might of the farm lobby in the USA and in meetings with the the Farm Bureau and other organisations we were staggered to hear that they have 6 million members, with the average membership ranging from $30-$70 per annum...in doing the maths if the membership averages $50 x 6 million = $300,000,000....that is a mighty $$ force to be political with...I wouldn't argue with them too much!!  What is also impressive is that they have many, many members that aren't active farmers but have a keen interest in the future of agriculture....

Meeting with speakers in the famous Agriculture Committee room in the House of Representatives where many deals on policy etc have been done that at times impact on Australian producers...for example the Howard government free trade agreement which has resulted in an extra $60 billion trade between Aust & USA

So...after nearly 3 intensive days of meetings the business clothes were popped away for a while and I had a day of riding a bike with 3 other Nuffield's around DC and visiting the famous Washington museums such as the aeronautical/space museum and the American History museum...I really got such a feel for the patriotism and pride Americans have in their democracy and innovations....then it was time to then put on our farm boots and next stop.... Pennsylvania.....

Two of my favourite things, history and bike riding......cycling around the historical sites of Washington DC

Pennsylvania....

We collected our hire cars and onto Pennsylvania we drove, if anyone wishes to visit this wonderful state then I would fully recommend October (their Autumn) as the Autumn leaves are just simply breath-taking...Pennsylvania is an eclectic mix of farming with a strong focus of linking producers direct to the consumer...."farmer markets" abound and schemes that link consumers financing the production costs for the farmer for the coming year are in existence.....these schemes are called Community Supported Agriculture, where for some up front payments from the consumer to assist with production costs they receive a bundle/package of fresh food for the coming year direct from the producer...
One of the most staggering statistics that we came across, and it was mentioned often, is that within 8 hours drive from Pennsylvania they can service the food needs of 80% of the USA population..hence it puts them in an amazing position in terms of domestic market infiltration, this coupled with fertile soils and an abundance of rainfall lead us to see Pennsylvania as an incredible fresh food source for the USA....but before talking about the producers we met....our first stop in Pennsylvania was the historical site of Gettysburg, the pivotal site of the 1860's American civil war where the southern states succeeded from the "Union" and sought to keep their economic wealth and black slaves confined to their control...7 large southern states broke away from the Union and such started the fighting for independence and control.......

Gettysburg became the pivot of the fighting forces due to five major roads converging into one small township, the southern states produced an abundance of cotton and had opened up substantial global markets for their cotton, hence their economic importance to the Union, but with the length and intensity of the civil war were starving without the food supply from the North. The order was given to go North and secure food and but for some critical strategic and tactical decisions history may well have been completely different...a single gunshot from a Union commander upon seeing the masses of Southern infantry coming across the fields slowed the surge of the Confederates, just long enough for Union forces to march through the night to give much needed reinforcements as the Union had few forces in place at Gettysburg at the time, the race to secure "little round top", one of the few rises on the battle field was pivotal for success...and the Union forces won that race...and as in most historical situations the victors are the writers of history....3 days of bloody fighting with just cannons, swords and very basic guns.... over 50,000 casualties in those 3 days...and Abraham Lincoln's famous Gettysburg address....."Four score and seven years ago.......that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

The famous 1863 civil war battle fields of Gettysburg, over 50,000 casualties in a 3 day period

Standing on "little round top", with the battle fields behind...this hill become pivotal in who won the war and it literally became a foot race between the North and South to claim this strategic position.....the North got there first and well....the rest is history...with the North winning the war....

Our gorgeous American mate, Jean, the amazing host who put so much time and effort into our USA adventure and research, we cant thankyou enough Jean xx Sunset with Gettysburg battle fields  behind.....

Our gorgeous host Jean and her magic team organised the most amazing tour of Gettysburg and Pennsylvania agriculture where we mostly based ourselves in Harrisburg and travelled out to many varied producers and agri-organisations as well as lunch with executives at Penn-State University. we were shown around the university campus by 3 magnificent young ag students, I walked about the campus astounded at the massive public/private investment in the infrastructure and resources available for the students.  Penn-State has a hugely vibrant alumni and are on track to raise 2 billion dollars over a 7 year period for the University....40,000 students on the main campus, another 40,000 in satellite campus's and collectively 4000 students studying agriculture, which they tell us will all be snapped up by employers as soon as they graduate, interesting not many graduates will return to farms, they will go into research, state extension or multi national corporations...I would love my children to go and do a semester of study at Penn-State...a bit of a risk as they may not want to return to our local Universities after such an experience....

Harrisburg....the bridges over the river...I have never seen so many bridges and the reflections were breath-taking

I met so many wonderful women around the world....another wonderful woman... Diva the alpaca...a "selfie" photo with Diva from Pennsylvania

Wow...what we learnt from the producers...from the Alpaca farm where passion for the industry is seeing them breeding stock in the hope it can go from a small cottage industry to a main stream industry, the trout farm who last 300,000 stock (fish) in the floods last year and are only just surviving financially, and given we flew out only hours before Hurricane Sandy we have our fingers crossed that they are OK...gorgeous Grandpa Wayne from "Way-Har" milk who in the 1950's took to value adding their milk through a small homogenising unit into a shop that they built on a major thoroughfare, they have now diversified into ice-cream production too...but with Wayne we experienced something from yester-year...old fashioned civility and shopping service that is sadly lacking in this modern era...I felt like I was back in the 1960/70's when browsing through his unique shop, eating his ice-cream and trying the home made peanut butter that was for sale...from there to the ultra modern mushroom production that Pennsylvania is famous for...they are the largest producer of mushrooms for the American market...finishing the day with visits to some wineries and sampling the emerging Pennsylvania wine industry....

Jemma and I in the pick-up truck with founder of "Way-Har" milk - Grandpa Wayne

Trout farm in Pennsylvania - a commercial operation that lost 300,000 fish in last years floods....

What surprised me is that many of the issues we face in Australia in farming, ie lack of profitability, young people not choosing to return to farming as a career, environmental disasters etc are the same for many Pennsylvania farmers...but they have the added complication of urban growth into their rural land zones, hence pushing up the land prices, making farming unviable in its returns and dealing with the complicated issue of "right to farm", we seemed to be in a rural area to turn the corner and immediately be part of urban sprawl....

Bartram garden - Philadelphia

One of the things to be admired about the US farming industry is there intent on bringing all of the community into their production space and educate the "voters" of tomorrow about the importance of the agricultural industry. The farm bureau has mobile agri-labs that they take into schools and educate students about the science and holistic management of the environment, Bartram garden (above) in Philadelphia is an amazing, private collection of rare and endangered old world plant species but they are innovating in their education of the urban population with families being able to have a garden bed to produce vegetables etc...we spoke with one very enthusiastic recipient of the garden bed scheme who spoke about "learning to become a farmer", having harvested 3 crops in a 12 month period off her plot and the joy she experiences having her garden plot and bringing her grandchildren out to play in the beautiful gardens while she tends her crop....the souls of the global community "sing" when deeply connected to agriculture....

Guess what this is??  I will buy a coffee (or wine) for anyone who guesses correctly!!  But you have to come to Clare to collect!!!

As I draw to a close on this part of the "adventure" I have to say thank-you to all those wonderful people who have assisted in giving us an amazing view of the world....those group leaders who organised amazing visits and who put so much effort into linking us with their industry in our journey around the globe...without your effort and I think in most instances, your voluntary commitment to the Nuffield vision and our learning we would not have the experiential knowledge to bring back and share...Nuffield Australia for being the visionaries they are in creating these Global Focus Tours, my fantastic sponsors - GrainGrowers Ltd in being so supportive...you amazing scholars out there that I travelled with, with whom a strong bond has been created...but most of all....Thank-you to my truly amazing family, friends and colleagues who have supported me 1000 percent in being able to do this for seven weeks.....I owe you heaps xxx

Like I said in the beginning of the blog, this is not the end of my travel, I have drilled down the remaining parts of the world I need to explore to get the best real time technology back to us in 2013 and beyond...incredible really in that being a producer, consultant and educator, every step of the journey gave me critical, amazing information to share...but the last day of our 7 weeks, in fact the last interview...I found the most amazing USA company who is developing at a rapid pace real time technology linking production to management in the field....and the CEO final words to us were..."watch this space, amazing things will happen in the next 12 months with agri technology"...cant wait, needless to say he s on the top of my list to visit mid next year in the continued search for the ultimate real time agri-business "tool".....

Lela - another amazing host in Pennsylvania, is hoping to visit me in Australia to have a look at the consultancy and training that is occurring in the regional areas...come on down under Jean and Lela so we can return the hospitality....

GALLIPOLI TO FRANCE...."Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives....they have become our sons as well"

"Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives…

You are now living in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours…You, the mothers, who sent their sons from faraway countries wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace, after having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well."            

Ataturk, 1934

Gallipoli....Standing at Anzac cove with the famous "Sphinx" behind me

The above speech, made by the Turkish General Ataturk after the battle of Gallipoli is such a lesson of forgiveness and reconciliation from a nation that was attacked during WW1. The Gallipoli campaign saw the loss of 8500 Aussie soldiers, but what I also learnt was that Turkey lost over 80,000 soldiers, approx 35,000 British/French soldiers killed and 2700 Kiwi's....all on a very small peninsula that was critical for both sides in controlling the east during WW1....

As I walked the pathway of the Aussie soldiers of 1915, I was in awe of their resilience given the narrow beach, the steepness of the terrain and the sheer effort required by the diggers to infiltrate inland, and history tells of the sea being red with blood...walking along Anzac cove I wondered if these rocks that the sea was gently rolling over were part of the landscape nearly 100 years ago and felt the traffic of the ANZACS as they landed under the cover of darkness in what is described as the campaign that defined Australia as a  nation.....Gallipoli is a great connection between Turkey and Australia and demonstrates how given great leadership, like General Ataturk displayed with his famous speech, the futility of war can be transformed into positive emotional connection between countries....

Blue Mosque - Istanbul...

Our time in Istanbul was a historical highlight, founded in 660 BC, it now has a population of 14 million and during our time we visited the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia and the Cistern....we enjoyed coffee in a 700 year old coffee shop where local artists learnt their trade, and of course some quality time in the Grand Bazaar......where we spent time shopping as well as getting lost and doing laps trying to find our way out.....

Dinner overlooking the Bosphorus....

The Grand Bazaar is an eclectic mix of East meeting West with 61 covered streets and over 3000 shops  selling rugs, scarves, jewellery, leather goods, lighting ++.....giving you a small snippets of what shopping treats await.....and armed with some green backs (USD) off I went........... 

Night-life Istanbul....

I wrote on facebook that Jemma and I visited one of the many rug shops, had a free cup of tea and negotiated on a rug that the shop owner wanted $900 USD, he virtually booted us out when we offered $90 USD...the good part of the story is that I found the most fascinating and unique rug shop that I spent a couple of hours drinking Turkish tea, looking at very old and unique rugs, and ended up buying a couple of items...being an 80 year old rug and an old arrow hunting bag.....again, as per my comment on facebook....every woman's fashion accessory.....a carpet arrow bag!!! Katnis from the Hunger Games...be scared....I am coming.... with my carpet arrow bag!!!

Istanbul is just such a great reminder of the Great dynasties past with major empires such as the Romans, Byzantine, Latin and Ottoman empires seeking to control Istanbul at various tines in history, mainly because of its strategic position on the "silk route", being the pivotal point of East meets West during early years of trading, and its position of being the only sea route between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.....Istanbul is one of my favourite cities full of culture, life and, of course, unique, fun shopping..........a great base for a couple of days to experience Gallipoli and recharge the energy levels....

FRANCE.......

We packed up our gear and with great trepidation booked our bags in for the flight to Paris...trepidation because during our few days in Istanbul the bags seemed to have gained weight!!!  Luckily they squeaked through with the extra weight and off to France we went....

After a brief "whistle-stop" in Paris we caught the fast train to Geneva where we had a day at the WTO (World Trade Organisation) meeting with high level officials...the WTO function is to deal with global rules between nations and ensure that trade flows smoothly, predictably and freely as possible.  THE WTO was formed in 1995 and the obvious example that comes to mind of their influence was agricultural issues we had in the late 1980's early 1990's when farm payments to European and USA farmers resulted in over supply of say wheat and other core commodities being flooded onto the global market.  I still remember the years that wheat was $80-$90/tonne making it unviable to continue farming....the roll back for direct commodity subsidies was agreed upon in the Uruguay discussion where the concept of the WTO was formed and a strategy by major nations was agreed upon in making the global market function "freely" with an environment of economic supply/demand functionality.

To the credit of the "super-traders" in the global agri space we function in, the EU and USA have changed their focus from commodity driven subsidies to "de-coupling" and wind back of direct farm payments, we wouldn't be seeing high grain prices today if they hadn't been successful at the Uruguay...for every success story is the challenges that face democracy/diplomacy...the WTO DOHA discussions that commenced in 2001 are at a stalemate and not a resolution in sight!!  Thats Diplomacy for you...snail pace and requires great patience....the high ranking officials we met with were terrific in giving us real and intimate insight into global trade and the complexities that exist...we did contribute that the "developing" countries that we had visited like India etc have got trade distorting subsidies in agriculture...ie subsidised fertiliser, power, seed etc and they acknowledged that this is a huge concern for the WTO with regard to global trade...but they also told us that it is the opinion of the WTO that high food prices may be here to stay on a more consistent basis...as net exporters of food, lets hope....

France was amazing, I have travelled through France a few times but through the hospitality of the French Nuffield scholars network we had the most amazing time... French Nuffield scholars travelled from all over France to spend 3 days with us travelling around eastern France looking at their unique culture and industries...it was a wonderful time for connecting with our fellow global Nuffield scholars...

We visited vineyards and wineries and drank champagne which France is famous for...we drank boutique beer that one of the French scholars has developed and now sells into a market of about 350,000 people only 50kms from where he makes it.  Michele our French host showed us how they have automated their dairy with a robotic milking machine where the cows load themselves into the machine and get milked without human intervention....amazing, the cows choose when they wish to be milked.  Michele also took us through his green waste depot that he has developed on his property to supplement the dairy income and he is now making terrific compost, whilst making great money from servicing the needs of the local community in collecting waste.  He also has invested $1M Euros into a solar panel system on his buildings that he has a 20 year contract to deliver power into the electricity grid at 61 cents/kw...the amazing part of this deal is that he can buy the power back at around 7-9c/kw....now that is the deal of the century!!!

We visited medieval towns and walked through cobbled streets and continuing the eating theme we have embraced on our trip around the world....we had simply wonderful French food and wine...we often laugh and say we are eating our way around the world, and WOW we have had some great food....the riesling trail and many km's with be my favourite friend when I get home, I have to say that Wild Saffron still has the best global coffee, I haven't had many good cups of coffee on our trip...

What I have learnt again in visiting France is the comfort they have in servicing a large local populations and with a combined EU population of 502 million people they can develop markets just servicing the needs of the EU and at times global exports are of secondary concerns....so different to Aussie farmers who have to look globally for just about every market decision and sales...there are still industries that are struggling (such as piggeries who face high grain prices, labour/wages increases and huge competing pressure from other nations such as Denmark and Germany) but on a whole farming is France is very civilised, organised and above all highly valued by the community...the whole of the EU community highly value the farming industry, particularly the land and are willing to support the integrity of the environment through de-coupling payments.....there are times I dream of this farming system in Australia but we operate in a different space and its not really a reality.....

How about this...after our Chernobyl experience we come to France where clearly farming and nuclear power does and can co-exist...

What a highlight France was, the cultural experience of good wine, food and hospitality and the intimate look at existing and newly emerging industries mixed with a community who love and support their farmers was so refreshing...plus being with our fellow French Scholars and making new lifelong friends...amazing...thankyou France....next stop Washington DC and Pennsylvania....USA here we come....

With our hosts we went to a rugby game to support the local team...I know nothing about rugby but was good at singing the team song with the locals when they scored....

UKRAINE-CHERNOBYL...The darkness within....

It was with great interest that we made our way into Ukraine....as in my mind, Ukraine represented a mystery country that I knew little about...but I had heard stories of some great agri-business opportunities, a country with rich agricultural land that produces enormous yields of corn and wheat and a nation that is set to become a global powerhouse in terms of food production...

What I found was a country that is indeed has the potential to be a food bowl for the world, who gained sovereign independence in 1991 after the collapse of the USSR, talks about the need for reform and democracy...but is so far from those ideals with the underlying corruption and sinister undertones that is spoken about on the street, in meetings and in businesses trying to establish themselves in this country....

Ironic then the parallels between Ukraine's biggest shame....Chernobyl...and doing business in this country...the lack of transparency of the truth, the bitterness of power and politics and how the average Ukranian really has no choice in the destiny of their lives....not then and sadly not even now in 2012...the small glimmer they had of sustainable, democratic change may well have passed them by...so....this is my journey through the darkness within....

CHERNOBYL....26TH APRIL...1986...

As I walked through this pathway of undergrowth in the picture above, it represented to me the haste and misrepresentation of the truth to the people who lived at Chernobyl in 1986 and the 200 surrounding townships...if you look closely on the right there is a house that since the 28th of April 1986 (2 days after Chernobyl explosion) has not had inhabitants and another on the left and then more on the right, and as we walked these houses were everywhere, hidden by the growth and slowly being reclaimed by the forest.  Back to the 28th of April 1986...residents had happily continued their lives, they were unaware of any danger, there was some talk about an accident at the nuclear powerplant, but life continued for them....until they were informed that they had 2 hours to evacuate, and they fled in haste....never to return.... and we walked street, upon street of this town that once had 2000 residences who fled in fear and left all their belongings behind...

The child's tin truck that was laying in the front yard, the photos of the family scattered on the floor in the abandoned house....the cooking utensils still in pots as they left in haste...how did Chernobyl occur...this was the questions we asked as we entered the exclusion zone of the Chernobyl powerplant.

There is huge debate about how the accident occurred...scientists blame the engineers who designed the plant, the engineers blame the scientist for doing experiments that caused the reaction and explosion and to find out actual data about how many died is impossible, so the information I provide below is from various sources from the trip into Chernobyl and after...
- The 26th April 1986 a catastrophic power surge occurred in the plant at reactor 4 leading to an explosion of the core, spewing massive quantities of radioactive fuel and core material into the atmosphere
- It was reported to Gorbachev (as the plant was administered by Moscow as part of the USSR) that an accident had occurred but all was under control, he claims it was never explained as being an explosion of the reactor
- Sweden was the first to alert Europe that there had been a nuclear accident "somewhere" as they monitored unusually high radiation levels in their country and in the atmosphere
- 2 days after the explosion it was finally admitted that there had been an explosion, radiation levels at this time for the people of Pripyat was 50 to 500 times above the acceptable level, when this township was evacuated it was reported that the buses made a 30 mile convoy
- If desperate measures of containment of the heat from the damaged reactor had not been undertaken and other reactors had exploded it is estimated that up to HALF OF EUROPE would have been decimated

Once the USSR had taken responsibility they appear to have taken immediate and extraordinary steps to save Europe....the damaged reactor was so hot it was spewing radiation out into the atmosphere, they estimate that Belarus suffered 60% of the radiation fallout.  Helicopter pilots were sent over the reactor dropping water into the damaged reactor to try and cool it down....all of those 600 pilots died from radiation poisoning....they brought thousands of miners in from Siberia to tunnel under the nuclear power plant to get under the damaged reactor to put in place a cooling mechanism (as the heat from the damaged reactor was melting the sand between reactors and this was going to be the catalyst for the other reactors exploding.
These miners were not informed of the danger and had no masks or protection gear as they tunnelled underneath, all they were told was that they were needed for "national honour" to do this job, possibly the most shocking story of human sacrifice was the reservists who were called in to shovel the radioactive fuel and core off the rooftop of the remaining building...we saw disturbing movie footage of them being kitted up with very basic gear and then the fear in their faces as they had to run on top of the roof and shovel the radioactive material back into the damaged centre....500,000 people were called in to assist with the containment and cleanup of this disaster....there is no record as to if they are still alive, and many argue as to in actual reality how many people inadvertently were killed by this disaster....

The stats may not give us the answer but the stories of the people can give us a strong indication of the ongoing implications of the radiation "storm" that ensued....we had dinner with a lovely female Kiev Company Director, who told me that she was in Belarus on a school camp when the catastrophe occurred and the train they were travelling in was stopped for 3 days and not allowed to continue to return to Ukraine....she ended up having a type of leukemia that had her critically ill and hospitalised for a year, the 2 other girls she has kept in contact with have also suffered chronic illnesses.....I think I now have a feel for the human impact.....

One of the haunting images of Chernobyl...the abandoned ferris wheel.....

I wrote on facebook that people questioned why I would want to see Chernobyl, and I said its important we see the best and worst of mans developments...clearly Chernobyl will be etched into history as a huge catastrophic event to the extreme, but what I did also hear about was the former USSR efforts in trying to rectify and limit the damage once they accepted responsibility...the cost of Chernobyl was $18billion rubles (at the time equivalent to $18B USD) to the USSR and ultimately bankrupted the USSR so that they disbanded the union in 1991...hence this is when Ukraine gained independence.....

UKRAINE TODAY....

There is absolutely no doubt that Ukraine is seen currently (and in the past) as the food bowl of Eastern Europe, we witnessed fabulous, deep, highly organic soils that produced an abundance of crops such as corn, wheat, soy beans and sugar beet....through to some amazing irrigation in southern Ukraine (today only 200,000 ha's is irrigated from its peak of 2 million ha's irrigated during soviet rule, but the infrastructure has broken down and no one seems to want to spend the capital to rebuild the capacity again to 2 million ha's)....but what is stopping them from being a powerhouse of agriculture?

To put it in simple terms...its corruption....and everyone in this country acknowledges this....after independence in 1991, the assets and land were divided between the people and as such the farm sizes ranged from 1-2 ha's on average....today there are some aggregated holdings that farm as much as 500,000 ha's....how this can be managed and possible in Ukraine is a complicated mix of contracts with individual landowners and paying off government officials where needed, as there is to be no foreign ownership of land, but these large aggregations will often be foreign owned..so in effect they are renting the land for say $30-$60/ha, and in many cases this land is yielding say 8t/ha corn, 5t/ha wheat and 3t/ha of soy bean.....but all of the foreign owners we spoke to talked about the huge opportunities that lay with Ukraine...but for every step forward it costs a lot in bribes and at times the goal posts would be changed and suddenly their investment they had been working on for years, and foreign money had been invested into was worth nothing!!!  Big returns = Big risk.....they talked about ROI of say 30-40% on agri-investments, but with inflation ranging between 15-20% at times and lack of banks within Ukraine willing to lend money....its a tough gig to be in business.......and from what I observed their chance to be part of the EU in the future has slipped away with their lack of democracy and the high level of corruption....they are so far from a democratic society.... and in fact they are drawing closer and closer all the time back to Russia......

So....Ukraine....full of architectural wonder in Kiev, the beautiful Opera house in Odessa, but the poorest of infrastructure ie their dangerous roads, and what great infrastructure they had with the irrigation they have let go, corruption, devaluation, no incentive for foreign investment...the list goes on....why would you do business in Ukraine?  But when you see those big crops and the rich, yummy soil...well.....

I found that the women here had less hope than in any other country we had been to, we didn't see many women in high paid positions and saw most women in labouring jobs that again were the lowest paid positions in society....I do reflect though and the women who we did get to connect with were just gorgeous (some photos below) and most loved having their photos taken and through the interpreter they garbled away and asked for the photos to be sent to them....if only I knew their addresses, I would love to give them that pleasure.....

Odessa Opera House

All dressed up for the opera with our gorgeous interpreter Masha and Kiwi Nuffield Mike.....

There are so many other dark and scary stories about Ukraine, like the genocide of 1932/33 that was driven by Lenin, who in punishing the Ukranian people starves to death 9 million people...for a country that at that stage had less than 30 million people...this saw 30% of their population exterminated within a 12 month period.....I cant imagine it...but then having travelled in Ukraine maybe I can...

Therein ends my story of Ukraine, unlike the other countries we have visited I don't think I will return, it was interesting but dark and disturbing and to be honest a woman would not be welcomed doing business in this country...so there are no opportunities for me....so what I have learnt is that I am lucky to be a woman in my wonderful country which gives me opportunities and I value our system of Democracy so much more when I travel through "the darkness within".....Ukraine.....

Next blog....Turkey. Istanbul and Gallipoli.....

QATAR - HIDDEN TREASURE OF THE MIDDLE EAST...

QATAR...The worlds richest country...is a sovereign state situated on a small peninsula, north/east on the larger Arabian peninsula and facing the Persian Gulf....and the beneficiaries of one of the worlds largest reserves of "black gold"...oil...

Since becoming Independent in 1971, it has transformed from a native population of around 240,000 to having 1.4 Million living within its borders.  Of the 1.4 Million, 300,000 are of Qatari blood with the remaining 1.1 Million coming to the sovereign state from other Arab countries, Africa and Asia.

What a contrast... from India to now Qatar...this is the story of 10 Nuffield's in the Worlds richest country....

We focussed our learning in this kingdom around 2 sovereign companies, being Hassad Food Group and Mawashi Meat and Trading Livestock, Hassad Food Group gave an insight into BIG strategy that few of us had rarely experienced before and Mawashi allowed us to experience the operational/slaughtering end of the live sheep we export to this region....

Firstly...Hassad Group....this sovereign company was founded in 2009, under the umbrella of the Qatar investment fund, and created with the sole agenda of providing food security to the Qatari people.  In a rapid expansion globally this company is travelling the world to invest strategically in land and huge capital development projects to ensure continual supply of food into Qatar.  To date they have purchased 290,000 ha's of land in Australia and their vision is to become Australia's largest sheep producer/exporter.  In looking at my notes and writing this blog, I do wonder what impact this vision and goal of the Qatar kingdom will have on live sheep prices in Australia, because if they can supply a large portion of sheep from their own Australian properties will the economic function of supply/demand be disrupted and lower prices being the outcome be less price for the Aust sheep producer....
What money and resources can achieve.....we travelled to a Hassad farm bout 30 minutes from Doha, where they are irrigating land to produce fodder/hay and some crops....check out the 2 pictures below to give you an idea as to the miracle that water.... and lots of money..... can create out of a desert...

Irrigated fodder crops under irrigation 30 minutes from Doha

In the same spot I turned 180 degrees and this is the land that they have developed under irrigation...mostly limestone......

We met with a number of executives of Hassad, the 2 main contributors to our learning were two Aussie guys who are working in the acquisition and development executive roles, and they explained to us some of the fascinating projects that are currently being negotiated and developed through this kingdom company....for example...they are purchasing land in Sudan (to us it looked like brown desert) and with negotiation with the Sudanese government they are going to develop the land, extract water from the white nile and in 12-18 months will have 1000 pivots operating, mostly growing fodder (Saudi used to produce a lot of fodder for this region but have decimated their underground water supplies so have had to stop).  This development will be in excess of 100 million dollars...
Other countries they are looking to invest in....Kazakhztan, Canada and South America....their biggest limitation in acquisition of land and development of that land is that a number of countries have strong laws against foreigners purchasing land....which brings to consideration the debate that often rages in Australia about letting our precious land resources be sold...there are clearly some benefit for Australians in allowing foreign investment, but as one of the executives from Hassad commented to us....Australia has lost control of its "arteries" being the grain port system, and no country should ever allow this to occur......interesting thinking and comment.......I tend to agree....

The Hay shed at the Doha farm, no expense spared and they also are building a very grand guest house too

Such is the randomness of birth-right in the life journey that we have... the Qatari people are wealthy beyond belief and every company in Qatar has to have a Qatari figure head, albeit it they have little to do with the actual running of the business...the kingdom has been clever in engaging very clever executives at the next level....The Qatari people are paid an enormous salary by the kingdom, but the kingdom is also very mindful of making sure they keep the blood-line "pure" so the wealth stay distributed within a few...what does this mean.....Qatari people can marry outside of their own bloodline, however they will have reduction of their wealth sharing and if they marry another pure Qatari they receive an ENORMOUS cash bonus...

This is in contrast to the story we heard about the Nepalese worker who had emigrated to Qatar is search of work and was sending money home...after 5 years he had saved up enough money to fly back to see his family, so caught the flight, had to then catch a bus for a week, then walk for a week, to be only home for a few days before he had to do the walk, bus, flight back to Qatar....such is the lottery of life.....

With the sons of a camel racing stud owner........

After finishing our time with the Hassad Group (which I am sure we all could have spent days with them...fascinating to be at the edge of such massive developments...) we spent good times with the Mawashi Livestock trading group...another sovereign company...who showed us through the killing works in which our live exports are processed through after their long boat journey....it was really impressive and rivals the hygiene of Australian abattoirs....
What was so impressive was the really strong relationships that MLA (Meat & Livestock Aust) have developed with Mawashi through people like Blythe Calnan and Annabelle Coppin....these ladies have been travelling over the past few years to the middle east and working with the executives and workers of the killing works to assist them in education of handling these frightened Aussie sheep that have had a long voyage to the Middle East.  Sheep in the middle east are quite domesticated and will stand in a ute untethered and follow their handler around, hence when faced with Aussie sheep they were unsure how to handle them, Blythe and Annabelle have been instrumental in assisting them in better handling practices, to the point that through these relationships Mawashi will be implementing the Aust Govt ESCAS (Export Supply Chain Assurance System - this was brought in after the June 2011 Indonesian issue ) very willingly...and I am sure its through the hard work and great relationships these girls have created.....

Dinner with the Mawashi executives, kneeling on cushions and taking the food with our fingers...yum!!

Annabelle Coppin with a local sheep trader.....

One of the quirkiest local cultures I experienced was the local abattoir where the purchaser could choose a live sheep in a yard outside of the killing works, walk the sheep through the race with a handler directly into the killing works and then stand at a window and watch his animal being killed, to the point where at the end of the killing chain a butcher would be waiting for instructions for the purchaser as to how they would like the meat cut up.....the dialogue between the purchaser and butcher was colourful and theatrical...and bit of meat was hacked and chopped and then popped into a plastic bag to be thrown in the car (in about 50 degree heat...hope the air con was on) to be taken home...this was kind of the Qatar version of fast food!!!  But is was so nifty and real paddock to plate processing all in about 20 minutes....

Local abattoir worker with a processed fat tail lamb

The workers at the local abattoir were so happy to see us and kept yelling out "Harry Kewell"...not being of a soccer heritage it took me a while to understand...this worker badly wanted to show me the fat tail lamb that had just been processed...apparently the fat tail is a delicacy...who knows, with language barriers we may well have eaten a fat tail and not have known....I don't think I would order it
normally.....

The butcher and the purchaser discussing how they wish their animal to be cut up......

So ended our few great days in Qatar, we loved it for the extreme contrast it gave us from India (extreme wealth Qatar - compared to India's extreme poverty), but one thing that India and Qatar had in common was the warmth and friendship that was extended to us and we are just so grateful for their generosity and time in showing us their "hidden treasures"....thank-you Qatar, next stop Ukraine and Chernobyl

Before you speak, listen.  Before you write, think.  Before you spend, earn.  Before you invest, investigate.  Before you criticise, wait.  Before you pray, forgive.  Before you quit, try.  Before you retire, save.  Before you die, give....

William A. Ward

Sadly we had to send one of our scholars home to Canada due to illness, the travelling and learning can be gruelling and take a toll on peoples health.......we miss you Brenda, get well soon xx