Touchdown Santiago
By Mike Danna
Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation Public Relations Director
A good night’s sleep is sometimes overrated.
After an uneventful eight hours in the air, LSU AgLeadership Class 12 touched down at 6:55 a.m. Santiago time (3:55 a.m. CST) in the capital city of Chile. While a few class members were able to sleep on the plane, many had a restless, fitful night. And after a brief check in at the Torremayor Hotel, it was on to the U.S. Embassy to begin our 10-day tour of South America.
The embassy is located in the central business district of downtown Santiago. No cameras, cell phones or other recording devices were allowed inside the facility. It’s standard procedure for U.S. embassies to deny its own citizens the right to photograph what their tax dollars have built and paid for around the world. That’s why you won’t see any photos of class members meeting with the ag attaches or ag counselors.
Be that as it may, USDA officials said that increased Chilean agricultural production and its related infrastructure are partly responsible for lowering Chile’s poverty rate from 39 percent to 13 percent in the last 10 years. Much of the success in the country’s improved ag sector hinges on improved relations between farmers and the nation’s banking community. Chile, we were told, has the most transparent banking procedures in all of Latin America.
In 2010 there was $15.1 billion in direct foreign investment in the ag sector. That kind of investment shows the world Chile is the place to do business with its farming communities.
Following lunch, we visited the Fundacion Chile, a semi-private organization that vets new technologies and products for Chile’s agro-industrial, forestry and marine fisheries industries. Lea Pollack, director of international development told the group Fundacion Chile is essentially a combination think-tank, R&D and manufacturing foundation, operating on a $40 million a year budget with 170 researchers and investment specialists.
One of the foundation’s most successful endeavors involved developing Chile as a leader in salmon production in the 1980s. Its next major project involves developing solar energy from Chile’s vast northern deserts to generate power at a competitive cost without government subsidies.
We wrapped back at the hotel around 5 p.m. Many of us probably retired to our rooms for a much-needed nap before dinner.
On Wednesday we’ll visit the Lo Valledor fruit packing facilities. It’s one of the largest fruit processing plants in the country. Following the Lo Valledor tour it’s on to Undurraga, one on of Chile’s largest vineyards. Did anyone bring a corkscrew?
Stay tuned…