4H Youth Ag Summit
Canada
2013 Scholarship
By Caroline Trude
Whimple & Broadclyst YFC
Facts about Canada…
• Population: 33.5 million people
• Capital city: Ottawa
• It is the 2nd largest country in the world!
• Canada has the 4th lowest density of population
in the world.
• The size of the UK can fit into Canada 40 times!
Hi, my name is Caroline Trude and I won a Scholarship to Canada sponsored by Bayer Crop
Science.
The purpose of the scholarship was to attend the first ever Youth Agricultural Summit in
Calgary.
I was lucky enough to travel with 3 other UK representatives.
Joe
Me
Donna
Becca
What is the Youth Ag-Summit?
120 delegates from 21 different countries came together to
discuss food security and the possible solutions to feeding the
increasing population.
It was also a celebration for 4H as they had reached their 100th
anniversary
Before the Summit started we had some time to discover
Calgary. What better way than to have a look from the Calgary
tower!
The official opening of the summit was held at the Calgary
Stampede ground, where all the delegates were officialy ‘white
hatted’ and had the chance to meet the Stampede Royalty!
We were treated to a Canadian Showcase. The evening was full of acts from
all over the country which included, music, dancing and singing.
We were taken on several visits throughout the Summit to make us think about food
production and relationships between producers, processors and consumers. We
visited Sunterra market which is a farmer owned supermarket.
We visited a John Deere dealership, where the engineers explained to us
about GPS and precision farming. They explained that through greater
amounts of technology and understanding, yields can increase.
Alta Genetics is a International bull Semen company. We were shown around
their farm where they keep many pedigree stock bulls. The purpose of this visit
was to discuss Genetics and Genomics in the livestock sector.
We had long discussion about
sustainability when we visited a local
cattle ranch. The owner explained to us
the difficulties farmers in Canada face
and what they are trying to do to over
come them for further generations.
We were privileged to listen to some world class speakers talk about different aspects
including, leadership, Innovation, and goal setting.
We then discussed increased food production in smaller groups and present to the rest of
the summit our ideas on feeding 9 billion people.
At the end of the Summit we had a celebration day, where
we travelled to Banff National Park.
After the fantastic week at the Summit, it was time to leave Calgary and
start exploring more of Alberta and British Columbia. Joe, Donna, Becca
and myself hired a Jeep and hit the road for our week long road trip!
We travelled from Calgary, to Banff and on to Jasper
National Park. Driving through the Rocky mountains was
spectacular!
We also did a bit of wildlife spotting! We travelled on a speed boat,
went down a river and saw some black bears! We also found some
white tail deer.
We travelled across to Vancouver which has over half a million residents. Unfortunately it
was raining, but that didn’t dampen our spirits, we took an open roof tour bus to see the
city!
During our stay we attended an (American) football match between
the Hamilton Tigers and the BC Lions. This match had an amazing
atmosphere as the BC Lions won!
On our drive back to Calgary,
to catch our flight, we
stumbled upon a dairy farm
open to visitors. As a group
of young farmers, we
couldn’t resist popping in
and looking around!
Thank you!
My time spent in Canada was a trip of a life time!
It would not have been possible without the following organisations:
National federation of YFC’s
Bayer Crop Science
4H Canada
Thank you to everyone who was involved in making the Youth Ag Summit 2013 a privilege
to be part of!
Why and how should YOU apply?
A scholarship brings:
FUN
LAUGHTER
OUT OF THE ORDINARY
AMAZING PLACES TO VISIT
NEW FRIENDS
EXPLORE THE WORLD!
It is so easy and simple to apply for a National YFC Scholarship. Simply download and
fill in a form that can be found on the NFYFC website.
Then attend a short, friendly interview and if you are lucky enough to be picked, you
will be off to your destination in no time!
APPLY TODAY!!!!