New Zealand Exchange
FERGUS FALLS, Minn
There are tour bus tourists, and
there are tourists like Dan Har
ris of Anita, lowa People who
want more out of a vacation
than sightseeing with a tour
guide
“I'm not a ‘look through a
window on a tour bus' kind of
person,” said Harris, who was
one of the first participants in
Communicating for Agricul
ture's (CA’s) new exchange pro
gram to New Zealand for estab
lished farmers
The 45-year-old lowa gram
farmer isnt jour typical tourist
Instead he's the kind of person
who doesn't mind getting his
hands dirty helping on the farm
or camping in the wilderness
He had been considering a
motorcycle tour of New Zealand
when he heard of CA’s exchange
offer that began m the winter of
1998 The program is patterned
after CA’s international agricul
ture exchange program for
young people but does not have
an age limit and is for shorter
periods of time The idea is to
place established American
farmers at New Zealand farms
where they worked with the host
family dunng the busy winter
harvest in exchange for room
and board
“It sounded like it had my
name on it," said Harris, who
applied for the exchange when
he first heard about it in Novem
ber 0f!997 By Jan 13, he found
himself flying to Auckland
where he was met bv Geoff and
Rochelle Spark of the Rural
Exchange New Zealand, CA’s
partners in the exchange pro
gram
The Spark:-, brought Harris to
C'laxbv Farm, a 4,700 acre flat
land farm on the Canterbury
Plains 30 minutes north of
i V „ ww^r _ s' '\
A LESSON
WELL
LEARNED...
LANCASTER
FARMING’S
CLASSIFIED
ADS
GET RESULTS!
Christchurch Owned by
Richard and Margaret Spencer,
Claxby is predominately a sheep
farm where they run 6,500 half
bred ewes and 500 merino ewes
They also have a simmental
herd of 30 cows and feed addi
tional cattle for market
However, it was the ca«h crop
aspect of the farming operation
that attracted Harris Used to
farming his own family farm of
1,000 acres in southwest lowa,
Harris found both similarities
and differences helping his Kiwi
hosts with the January harvest
For one thing, it was a hot
January with temperatures in
the 80s and 90s and a drought
taking its toll on the irrigated
crops Unlike the open fields of
his farm, Harris said the Claxby
Farm is bordered by mountains
on three sides and uses wind
breaks and hedges to prevent
soil erosion Harris found him
self “opening more gates than I
ever had in my life” as he
learned to farm Kiwi style
His hosts use a boarder dike
irrigation system installed not
long after Spencer's great
grandfather settled the land in
1852 Although Harris doesn’t
irrigate his land, he did work on
the Spencer’s other irrigation
system, a spray irrigator, when
it needed repair
“It was a typical harvest sea
son just like at home - full tor
pedoes ahead all the time,” Har
ris said “They were feeling a bit
guilty about not having enough
time to spend with me, but I did
n’t feel abused or anything
They certainly didn't ask me to
do anything they weren't doing
themselves ”
Hams found the work experi
ence and discussions with his
hosts to be an excellent way to
understand the differences
Offers Farmers A Working
between the farming systems -
everything from crop and soil
differences to government subsi
dies. Living with a host family
also meant he grasped a better
understanding of the cultural
differences
“I really enjoyed it Living
with the family was an experi
ence,” said Hams
Himself the father of two
grown children, Harris joked
about the antics of the Spencer’s
three children, Sam, 14, Olivia,
12, and Marcus, 6 Being with
the family gave him a perspec
tive he would not have found as
a tourist, he said
“You get to know the people
this way,” Harris explained
“They were very polite and easy
to get along with and always
interested in what you’re doing.”
His hosts open their farm to
(Centre Co.) Two kinder
garten children one
European-Amencan, one Asian-
American are busy playing
together with equal amounts of
clay. The Asian-Amencan child
calmly takes some of the clay
from the European-Amencan
child. An argument ensues, and
the teacher intervenes The
teacher’s first thought is that
the Asian-Amencan child is a
bully, yet the child’s manner is
otherwise polite and respectful.
“This is an example of a cul
ture clash in play,” says Dr
James E Johnson, professor of
early childhood education at
Penn State “Compared to chil
dren from some other ethnic
groups, European-Amencan
childrep tend to be more individ
ualistic and competitive in their
play”
Asian-Amencan children, on
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tour buses and sensed their CA
exchange guest was not your
typical American bus-tour
tourist So they invited him on a
camping trip to a remote area
near Lake Summer
“Lake Summer is a natural
lake that’s tremendously deep
and blue They brought what
they call a caravan, a little trail
er, and we camped out there
without water or electricity or
anything,” said Harris, an avid
fisherman and hunter ‘You can
only get there with a four-wheel
drive - that’s my kind of thing ”
That and a trip Harris took
along by car gave him a chance
to explore the geographical, cli
mactic and vegetation contrasts
of the island He saw red deer
being raised as a cash crop for
vension, wildly overgrown river
regions, cattle “grazing in grass
Children Play Alike
the other hand, place a special
value on cooperativeness and
sharing. Thus, they see nothing
wrong in taking from what is
perceived as a common stockpile
of clay.
“The teacher, realizing this,
puts all the clay together and
lets the children take what they
need within fair and sensible
limits,” Johnson notes. “This
stops arguments over they clay
and promotes cultural aware-
ness.”
“This scenario shows the
paradox of play,” he says. “While
all children play, children from
different cultures play different
ly.”
Johnson and Dr Jaipaul
Roopnarme, professor of Child
and family studies at Syracuse
University, are co-authors of the
paper, “Play and Diverse
Cultures. Implications for Early
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Vacation
up to their bellies,” mountainous
areas and coastal regions
It was a working vacation
that gave Hams a chance to
farm during the winter, meet
new people and travel to an
interesting land It was a chance
to explore New Zealand and
whet his appetite for more of the
same
“I was pleased with my stay
there,” he said Tm definitely
going to go back ”
Anyone who is interested in
learning more about CA’s 1999
Established Farmer Exchange
Program to New Zealand that
will be offered around Feb 1,
1999 is asked to contact Beverly
Gilmartin at Communicating for
Agriculture, 112 E Lincoln, Fer
gus Falls, MN 56537 Phone
800-432-3276 or e-mail her at
beverlyg@cainc.org.
Childhood Education,” an invit
ed paper recently presented at
Wheelock College m Boston,
Mass. The two experts have col
laborated on research and publi
cations on play and diverse cul
tures for several years.
In foreign countries, even
very young children tend to be
fond of games with clearly
defined rules For instance,
Brazilian children will start
playing soccer at the age of two
or three
American children prior to
the age of eight prefer a less
structured approach to play,
according to Johnson
“Play encourages problem
solving, social competence and a
sense of humor, while at the
same time promoting tolerance
and understanding It is the uni
versal language of children,”
Johnson adds
HJjIjjMATICI
First In Product Innovation
The Dairy Equipment Division
of DEC International Inc
McNEAL
FARM
SERVICE
Towanda, PA
717-364-5460