Oklahoma State University international students will view Oklahoma agriculture up close and personal during a farm and ranch tour hosted by Oklahoma Farm Bureau’s Young Farmers & Ranchers Committee October 8-9.
The annual event highlights specific aspects of the industry in various parts of the state. This year’s tour will focus on north central and northeast Oklahoma.
State YF&R Committee Member Will Cubbage, who also is Osage County’s OSU Extension agriculture educator and owns registered Angus cattle on native and improved pastures in Rogers County, said the tour will give students the opportunity to learn about the state’s agriculture industry firsthand.
"It’s our hope that students will see for themselves how we do things here in Oklahoma," Cubbage said, "so they may take what they’ve learned and apply these practices in their own countries. In graduate school, I was frequently asked production questions from international students, but this tour is much more effective than any impromptu explanation that I could give them."
He said the tour also is a good way to establish a rapport between
Oklahoma farmers and those from other countries.
"This tour allows young producers in Oklahoma to build relationships with international visitors to the mutual benefit of our agriculture industries," Cubbage said.
During the two-day tour, the group will visit several agricultural operations and businesses across the north central and northeast sections of the state.
The group’s first tour stop will be Head Country BBQ for a look at the barbecue sauce manufacturing facility.
Moving on, the students will tour several cattle and forage operations, including Reed Ranch, the Nature Conservancy’s Tallgrass Prairie Reserve, Surber Cattle Co., Washington County Farm Bureau President Macy Strom and John Strom’s VV Ranch, and the Mullendore Cross Bell Ranch.
Day two of the tour will begin with a drive-by viewing of Frank Lloyd Wright’s "Price Tower." Next, the group will visit the OSU Extension goat research site at Fessler Ranch. In Nowata County, the students will tour two more ranches – Helms Ranch and Smoke Rise Ranch – before a stop at the Will Rogers Memorial Museum in Claremore.
The group will wrap up the tour at OFB District 9 Director Mike Spradling’s Flying G Ranch in Sand Springs, a pecan processing and purebred cattle operation.
The state YF&R Committee is looking forward to educating international students from across the world during the farm tour.
"We hope both groups will gain a new understanding and respect for our different agricultural practices and for one another during this tour," Cubbage said.
The state YF&R Committee would also like to thank its sponsors: Nowata, Osage, Tulsa and Washington County Farm Bureaus; the Oklahoma Beef Council; Arvest Bank; Cargill; and Regent Bank of Nowata.
