Día del Campo

Wednesday morning we headed out with the INIAP employees to a field day jointly hosted between the Ag Department of the Universidad de Bolívar and INIAP. Having attended a field day or two at home in Virginia, I was interested to see how the format would differ.

As it turns out, there wasn't much difference. There were four stations: a little bit of history about the green revolution in Ecuador, information about a new INIAP product to fight a disease in corn, production cost information on corn, and a couple of test plots from a student finishing her thesis on INIAP varieties of corn and fertilization. Some of the crowd listened to every word, most did not, which seems like a similar problem at home. Unfortunately, for many it's just plain boring; the INIAP employees even commented on the repetitiveness and lack of interest among themselves.


What was different? Firstly, many more students attended (though I have a slight suspicion it may have been mandatory for those studying agriculture...), so the crowd was a more diverse mix between professionals, farmers, and students, with about 200 people total. Secondly, there was a lot of music happening during the in-between periods to keep people entertained. Thirdly, to keep time and the groups moving between the stations, they used fireworks! Hint, hint, VA Cooperative Extension, this might liven up some of your field days.  It was pretty effective: heard by all groups at all stations, no-one dawdled too badly.

The day finished up with a variety of speeches and a presentation of research books to our group (which I have a feeling will be read from cover to cover). An interesting addition was the president of the university giving the introductory speech of the day: I'm not sure I could ever imagine Dr. Steger coming to a field day and doing such a thing, but it was important that the president was there yesterday, I think. Following all activities was the highlight of the day for most: lunch. They were proudly serving an INIAP variety of sweet corn in addition to fried pig parts and a sweet drink made partly from quinoa. Maybe not my favorite lunch, but you take what you get sometimes.

Time is running short and tempers are beginning to run high, in addition to two rainy days here in Guaranda; summer at home is looking better and better every minute. Wish us luck for the final push to get our work done!