An Agventure Three Years in the Making

Well, it’s about time. LSU Ag Leadership Class XVII is all packed up and ready for their international trip to cap three years in the program. Usually it’s a two-year program, but the virus that shall not be named and the lockdown in response forced Class XVII to pause mid program. But to quote the Disney movie Mulan, “The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all.”

That really is the case with Class XVII. The adversity forced them to find new ways to connect. It allowed for some changes to some of the trips, like a visit to Montana. It also gave them more time to bond, and that’s evident in watching the members interact here in the airport as we wait to board our jet for Panama City. 

Over the next 12 days, Class XVII will travel through the countries of Panama and Costa Rica. They’re going to revisit some of the locations Class XIII saw in 2014. Obviously the Panama Canal is one of those locations; listed as one of the seven wonders of the modern world, the 26 locks that connect the Pacific Ocean to the Caribbean Sea lift ships up 85 feet over the 50 mile journey through the Isthmus of Panama. However a lot has changed over the last nine years. Construction of the new, wider portion of the Panama Canal was still underway in 2014. Now, it’s complete and can accommodate the bigger Post-Panamax ships which can carry 85,000 to 110,000 deadweight tonnage (DWT), double the 52,000 DWT capacity of the older Panamax ships. What remains the same is the importance of the Panama Canal to Louisiana agriculture. Ships destined for China loaded with grain from export facilities along the lower Mississippi River all traverse the Panama Canal.

In Costa Rica, Class XVII will see how production agriculture exists in a tropical rainforest. They’re going to see the production of sugarcane, coffee, pineapple, hearts of palm and visit a research station that’s helping farmers grow all of this in a way that does not disrupt the country’s ecosystem. They’re also going to see how labor issues we face in the United States are not much different than those faced by Costa Rican farmers, as Nicaraguan workers dominate the farm labor force.

That’s what this trip is all about. A chance to expose members of the class to things they’ve not seen nor experienced before with some familiarity mixed in so they can relate it back to what they do at home. 

And with that, boarding is underway for our flight to Panama City. So, it’s about time… we go.