David Ostdiek, Communications Specialist at the Panhandle REC, and Gary Stone, Extension Educator in Scotts Bluff County

A group of 27 foreign agriculture attachés from 23 countries came through the Panhandle as part of a tour of Nebraska and Colorado. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) sponsored the tour. USDA FAS arranges tours such as this every year to give the attachés, most of whom are stationed at their country’s embassy in Washington, a close-up look at farming and agribusiness.

The group of foreign attachés and USDA staff toured the university's Panhandle Research and Extension Center, where they heard from associate Director Jeff Bradshaw, as well as Stan Garbacz, Agricultural Trade Representative from the Nebraska Department of Agriculture, and had a chance to visit with representatives of the Nebraska Dry Bean Commission and Dry Edible Bean Growers Association. The foreign ag representatives got a broad taste of agriculture in the Panhandle. They also visited farms to see how dry edible beans and sugarbeets are harvested and visited processors and other segments of agribusiness in western Nebraska.