Day 9: Farm visit near Bulnes; Agrotourism at "Patron Viejo"

       This morning we traveled to San Vicente de Diguillin to visit with Eujenio and Carlos Smith who have a very diversified operation. They have been farming for sixteen years at this location where they grow fescue, rye, and orchard grass seed. They also grow sugar beet seed, corn seed, soybean seed, cucumber seed, blueberries, wheat, oats, and asparagus. Along with their seed production the finish about 2,000 head of cattle out in their feed lot per year. Upon arrival everyone headed to the corrals to see the corral system and wooden head gate.  After seeing the corrals we got back on the bus and headed off to see the Smith's fields and feedlot. The first stop was at one of their blueberry fields where they allowed us to sample some of the produce - very tasty!

Carlos & Eujenio Smith explaining about their diverse farming operation

We continued on to see more fields and their irrigation system. They use all surface water as they have a river located near the farm. It was impressive, seeing their feed yards which had Angus, Simmental, and Hereford cattle.  All the cattle in the feed yard had an ear tag with a SAG # this is their identification number and they must have this tag to be slaughtered. Most of their cattle are sold directly out of their feed yard as they said the market was to transparent. Another difference would be that they are paid on yield not live weight like some of us are accustomed to. They did say they would prefer the system that we have. The meat from these cattle stay in the domestic market as they have tried to get into the European market, but they run into to many regulations.  Another interesting fact was their was no permitting process for their feed lot, they said it is probably coming but as of right now they are not regulated.  It was a very interesting visit and very informative for SDARL Class VII.

View from Patron Viejo's farm

After leaving the Smith farm we headed to Fundo Centinela, Patron Viejo, where we were treated to a fantastic lamb lunch.  After lunch we were given a tour and some history of how the owner Pascual R. Martinez Cabrera got started in the Agrotourism business. Pascual's grandfather purchased the farm in 1924.  On the farm they have grown mint, and hard red winter wheat where the first seeds they used came from Oregon, USA. They no longer grow mint as it did not make economical sense. To stay diversified the also starting raising sheep where they were hoping to get into exporting lamb and mutton to Europe, but with the economic down turn that market has not developed. Pascual's hope is that this Agrotourism will supplement the farm income in the near term. They welcome visits to their beautiful farm, with a lake in the middle and the back drop of  mountains behind. Pascual has two daughters and is planning for them to run the business when he can no longer. It was a very beautiful place and I think we all enjoyed seeing it, and were amazed at some of the craftsman ship and art work. One very clear thing was Pascual was very passionate about what he is creating and making something for the next generation. More info can be found at padreviejo.cl.

Pascual guiding Class VII at the Agrotourism farm

 

Class VII at Padre Viejo

 Submitted by Monica Mandernach

Day 8; Sotomayor fruit farm tour, Monsanto Seed Corn production tour

Monday  February 17, 2014

After a great start of the day at the Quinamavida resort, we boarded the bus to a very interesting tour of a large diverse farm own by Juan Carlos Sotomayor.  Juan Carlos purchased this farm which had been farmed very traditionally with crops and livestock .   Juan Carlos’ vision transformed this farm into a diverse farm focusing now on mostly fruit production including blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, grapes, plums, apples and kiwi and vineyards.  His farm now includes nearly 10,000 acres.  He has four sons with three of them farming with him with their own areas of expertise.  Each son has attended undergraduate school in Chile, but then pursued advanced degrees in other countries with most of them acquiring engineering degrees.

Juan Carlos has pursued necessary requirements for the sale of organically produced blueberries.  Juan Carlos admitted that at the beginning,  these blueberries only produced about ½ of conventionally produced blueberries , but after five years he has experienced good production and profitability.  Juan Carlos has decreased his kiwi production and may eliminate it completely as the cooler climate in his area has resulted in the poorest year ever.  His kiwi fields normally will yield 340 Ton/hectare, but this year they may only produce 10 Ton/hectare.  The cold climate this year has affected much of his fruit production which the largest damage occurring early in the season as the crops are flowering and budding.

Kiwi's at Juan Carlos Sotomayor's fruit farm

Carlos’ farming operation has evolved with changing markets.

Juan Carlos’ large farm size prevents him from buying any insurance for his crops and does not allow him to receive any government subsidies.  While the cool weather has been devastating for Juan Carlos’ production, it has however created a high demand and price for the products allowing satisfactory profitability.

Juan Carlos, tourguide Fred and Class VII touring the fruit farm.

The highlight for our tour at his farm today was our experience of watching a blueberry picker in action in the field.  We were able to walk right next to the machine as it shook the berries from the plants and conveyed them to the top of the picker where the driver and packaging people operated.  This machine was manufactured in Oregon and was shipped to Chile at a delivered cost of about $175,000 and was predicted to be in use for the next 15 years. 

Blueberries, ready to pick and eat

Berrie harvester

 In the afternoon we ventured to a large irrigated field of seed corn production managed by Monsanto.  In about 10 days, these fields will begin to be harvested and will be processed likely at the Monsanto plant in Paine, Chile, that we toured earlier in the week.  Here the plant will husk, dry, shell, and prepared for shipping to the US where it will receive its final grading preparing it for retail sales.  We were especially fortunate to have our own chief agronomist, Joe Schefers, give a great explanation of what was happening in the seed fields.  Joe’s impromptu presentation gave a history of seed corn production to the advancements of what we experience today.  While Chile has not approved the sale of GMO for use in its country, most of the seed production fields were planted with those products to be used in countries that approve its use.

Seed Corn for US Market

Corn grower Francisco & staff, Angela with Monsanto

Submitted by Randall Questad

Day 7 - Talca market, Surmaule, Quinamavida

The morning started off in Talca, Chile where we met Stefano from the Surmaule organization. Surmaule is a non-governmental organization that works with individuals and communities in the Maule region of Chile. The Maule region is the most agricultural and rural region in Chile. Fruit packing plants, machinery equipment companies, farming, and livestock production are some of the top businesses in the ag industry of Maule. 

Since the Maule region is such a rural area, Surmaule works closely with the communities it serves to strengthen the capacity and skills of its people and promote and stimulate group action. Surmaule organization has several projects they are currently working on such as working with 50 farm families to recover after the earthquake and tsunami in 2010 and in March of 2014 will launch an urban garden program for families in the Maule region.  For more information on the Surmaule organization, feel free to visit their website www.surmaule.cl.

After the presentation from the Surmaule organization, we headed downtown to the local market where local producers sell their fresh produce and meat that they harvest from their farms.  We were able to walk around the market and see all the different vendors and the products they were selling.  One vendor that I found intriguing and hadn't seen at other markets we visited in Chile were the people selling fresh fish.

Once we were done visiting the market, we loaded the bus and were headed for our resort, Termas de Quinamavida.  Along the way, we realized just how "small of a world" it is. While driving down the road, we came across the Chilean fire department who were raising money for the year as they are a volunteer service to their communities. We quickly shared with them that we had seen a Chilean fire truck being built at Rosenbauer Fire company when we visited the company at our July SDARL session. The Chilean firefighter was also familiar with that particular truck and company in South Dakota. Jeff Thompson presented the firefighter with some Rosenbauer caps he had brought on the trip for gifts.

After this exciting coincidence we headed on to our resort.  The drive to the resort was beautiful and it is hard to put into words. Sometimes I catch myself thinking I might be at home in the hills of South Dakota as we drive through the foothills of Chile the last couple of days.

Once we arrived at the resort, we were able to do what we wanted for the remainder of the afternoon. Activities that we chose from were hiking, swimming, and horseback riding. I think it is safe to say that a fun time was had by all.

As I conclude for the night, I just want to share one last story of the day. Our SDARL class today was reminded that there are kind-hearted and caring people all around the world. While we had free time today, one of our classmate's wallet fell out of their pocket and they didn't notice it was missing. A guest at the resort found the wallet and was adamant that he return it to the person it belonged to. Through various questions to people at the resort, he finally found the individual it belonged to and personally returned it to them. Our classmate was very gracious for the selfless act and wanted to show their appreciation to the gentleman. However, the Chilean gentleman would not accept anything, but just wanted us to all have a great experience with the country of Chile and the people who live here! This is just one of many great experiences we have had with the Chilean people.

Well as I review my post, it appears that I have rambled long enough! We hope everything is going well back home and we will be back soon.  We want to thank everyone again for making this trip possible and an experience we will never forget!

Submitted by

Erin Yost

Day 6; touring Tripan tree nursery, San Pedro Winery and visit orphanage in Curico

It was a beautiful morning in Curico we had breakfast then departed for the Tripan plant nursery where we toured a tree nursery with the owner Rodrigo Correa.  He has been operating the nursery for 10 years.  They mainly grow Redrasis Pine and eucalyptus.  There were about 800,000 trees on site 80% of the production was already sold.  They supply the copper companies to restore mined areas, superstores, and construction companies.  It costs them between 20 and 150 pesos to grow the trees for six months.  The biggest challenge they have is keeping the stem mass and the root mass balanced to ensure a good solid product to their customers.  They also were the second largest grower of native species like Ruble which is used to make wine barrels.

Class VII at Tripan Plant Nursery

Off we were to Molina, we were running ahead of schedule so we stopped downtown as shops and stores were opening for the day.  The town came alive as we walked around.  It reminded me of old west movies, how the people were sweeping the streets and stocking up for the day.  There were lots of butcher shops, bakeries, souvenirs, clothing and groceries. All were gracious towards us as 32 of us swept through the town.

Beautiful park in downtown Molina

A short bus ride later we arrived at the San Pedro winery, established in 1865.  It is owned by several families and is the second largest winery in Chile.  It consisted of 1200 hectares.  They mainly grow three kinds of grapes and the yields vary from 17 tons/hectare to 4 tons/hectare.  The winery employs 400 people, 300 are pickers and the rest are in business, agronomy, or the actual wine making as well as stirring to shipping process.  They irrigate the grapes off the Andes Mountain Range 3 to 4 times per day.  Some trees were as old as 60 years.  The grapes come in off the field and are sorted by variety and color.  They are then pressed and stored in one of 200 stainless steel tanks for 10-14 days.  The total capacity is 14 million liters.  The red wines are mixed with the grape skins however the white wines are not.  Computer technology blends the wines by color and variety for consistency.  The wine is then moved to one of 13,000 barrels that are only ever used 3 times in their life.  Ten percent of these barrels come from the US and the other 90% from France.  It’s then moved into the cellar for up to 18 months.  Each of those barrels were worth $1000 US full of wine and $20 for an expired barrel. 

 The cellar was very vintage and full of character; the smells were extraordinary- ones I will never forget.  Our tour guide took us to the side of the mountain for some great photos then to a wine tasting where we learned the Chilean version of wine tasting.  In went a cowboy, out came a wine extraordinaire (it was very good) a wonderful tour and a chance to buy San Pedro wines.

Class VII at San Pedro Winery

Then we were on our way to the SOS Orphanage.

We were greeted by Angela, manager, and her little daughter, both with huge smiles on their faces.  The orphanage was very neat and clean.  Angela explained to all of us how Chilean laws work much like in the US.  The social worker will get called in to observe and act on a situation with a family.  It is then up to the court system to decide where and for how long the child will stay.  The children could also end up being adopted or given to a foster home.

Monica teaching a girl to do a double high five

At this orphanage there were 6-7 mothers each with 5-7 children in a home.  The mothers were special people with solid mental capacity and stable lives.  She told us each of the children’s parents would be graded on a performance type situation to possibly get their child back or how much time they could spend with the children.  Usually after going home with the parent or parents it takes 3 months for the child to adjust back to the orphanage.  Soon the children began to arrive around all of us. From that point on I watched as we all took the longest journey of our life - 18 inches from our head to our hearts.  We toured their homes, had a snack prepared by them, and interacted with the kids by showing pictures and playing football (soccer) and Frisbee.  Once showing the children our talents in football they challenged us to a championship game, SDARL vs the children, Mike Frey and I.  (They picked us what can I say??)  For Team SDARL all I can say is sometimes you have to lose great championships before you can win them.  Losing is a learning experience that’s worth a fortune.  Today was a blessing and truly a learning experience.

The soccer players at the SOS Orphanage

Written by
JP Heber 

Day 5: Touring Fruit exporter & Monsanto facilities in Chile

February 14th, 2014

We departed from Vina Del Mar at 8:15 am and traveled roughly 2 ½ hours to a Monsanto site south of Santiago near the city of Paine. We traveled through the valley of Casa Blanca where popular white grapes are grown. Most of the agriculture along the trip included vineyards, but it we found corn, vegetable, and fruit production as we travelled south of Santiago.

Monsanto Corn Seed Production Tour at Paine:

The staff at the Monsanto site, led by Site Manager Matias Navarrete, provided an informational tour of their site and activities. The plant was initially built in 1997 with several expansions through 2010. They produce seed corn at the location, but also produce small amounts of soybean and canola seed. The seed is produced for use on farms throughout the United States. Their production area ranges about 400 kilometers from north to south around Paine. They produce seed on 6500 hectares (16,000 acres) within their production area

Monsanto staff provided a one hour tour that included a brief presentation and a walking tour of the plant facilities. The key areas viewed were corn receiving, corn husking, drying bins, shelling/cleaning, and bagging for export. Corn is received on the ear with husks. Following husking and hand sorting, the ears are dried on the cob at temps around 95-105 degrees Fahrenheit in two directions to ensure quality. Bulk shelled corn is exported to the United States for final processing before farmers plant the seed this spring. They took great care in ensuring quality and safety measures were taken every step of the way.

Monsanto provided lunch at the Bavaria restaurant nearby. We enjoyed cuisine of German heritage, including blood sausage. The food was excellent and appreciated by the class.

Monsanto Paine Chile - entrance

Explanation of How Seed Corn is Produced for use in the US

Demonstration of where corn is delivered to the plant

 

Tour of the bins used to dry the seed corn.

Copefrut Fruit Production Plant at Curico:

Our class was led on a tour of Copefrut by plant managers Carlos and Daniella. The Copefrut company started in 1955 as a cooperative of growers. Changes in Chilean government caused a change in the business to a grower owned corporation. Copefrut employs 240 full time employees and 3,000 seasonal employees. They produce cherries, apples, pears, peaches, apricots, plums, and kiwi at five locations surrounding Curico.

Automatic size & color sorting of apples

Safety and worker comfort is a priority at Copefrut. They have a large professional business that provides excellent quality products. We toured the location by starting where growers deliver fruit through the entire process of packaged fruit. They were processing Gala apples during our visit that are 100% hand harvested. They showed how they conduct atmospheric storage, which utilizes nitrous oxide and 30-32 degrees Fahrenheit temperatures to extend the quality of fruit. Three weeks ago they shipped the last load of fruit from the 2013 production year to Columbia.

Hand sorting of apples at Copefrut

The Dogs of Chile:

We noticed many stray dogs during our city tours of Santiago, Valparasio, and Vina Del Mar. Dogs are allowed to roam freely and many have a way of walking with us during our travels. We have had fun noticing the many areas where they can be found and the variety of dog breeds.

Submitted by Joe Schefers