A week with two successful farm tours

Prize-winning Ugandan farmers on tour

On June 13 a group of prize-winning farmers from Uganda visited two interesting Dutch farms. Aim
of the visit: to get to know the lessons learnt in Dutch farming not only in dairy, but also in poultry,
pig and bee keeping, strawberry and horticulture production. This visit was commissioned by EMSA
Emerging Markets Africa, and linked to the Dutch embassy in Kampala.
After the presentation on the background on Dutch dairy farming,
all this could be experienced at the extra ordinary two farms
visited: Paradise farm and dairy farm de Zandbrink. This organic
dairy farm features many special items towards improved cow
health, like the cattle genetic four-way crossing and extra herbs in
grassland. Labour saving technologies, such as the milking robots
were another attraction of the day.

Inter-cultural communication
Excellent experience! This farm tour was generally much better than I expected. If Im being honest,
I did not have a major interest in farming, but Im so glad I came today because it was very
informative and engaging. Plus the food was delicious!
This is one of the reactions at the end of the one-day
tour on June 8 of a group of American students from
Newport University. They were in the Netherlands for a
semester on inter-cultural learning, and wanted a Dutch
Farm Experience tailor made program which included the
experience of the Natural Livestock Farming
international exchange program on ways to reduce
antibiotic use in dairy farming.
The day started at the Beekhoeve farm of Monique and Koos van der Laan with a presentation on the
background of Dutch dairy farming. This was followed by an interesting farm tour and a fantastic
lunch with home made cheese, butter and other products. The afternoon was dedicated to the
practical case of inter-cultural learning: starting with the film Green Antibiotics on the exchange
program between farmers and veterinarians of the Netherlands, India, Ethiopia and Uganda, the
students analyzed this experience through a SWOT analysis.

Questions
1. Only read the title and subtitle and look at the photos, what do you think the text is about?
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2. Write down five words, from the text, you find difficult and translate them.
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3. What was the aim of the visit?
A. To learn more about Dutch farming.
B. To get in contact with other countries.
C. To get insight in other technologies.
4.

From who is the reaction mentioned in the text?

A. Other farmers.
B. American students.
C. The owners of the farm.

5. What kind of text do you think this is?

A. Blog post.
B. Newspaper article.
C. A manual.