Fall calving has wrapped up and fall harvest and wheat sowing continues on our Kansas farm. We saw a good stretch of days that allowed us to keep moving through fields before rain entered the picture and put both harvest and sowing to a standstill. 

The rain was a welcome event given that we experienced an incredibly hot and dry summer. It was also a welcome sight because it allowed my family the chance to switch focus for a few days and prepare for international trade teams traveling through parts of Kansas.

Representatives from India, Sri Lanka, Latin America, China and Mongolia traveled throughout the state and visited with Kansas sorghum producers and learned about Kansas ethanol while also experiencing Kansas. 

I had the opportunity to meet up within grain buyers, feed millers and livestock producers from India, Sri Lanka, China and Mongolia over a two-week period to discuss sorghum with them. I was thankful to find so many familiar faces on these trade teams as I’ve engaged with many of them on my travels abroad and have continued conversations with them even after returning home to Kansas.

I was so excited to reunite with individuals and introduce them to my state, my friends and my family. So many of these trade team members have welcomed me into their homes, communities and businesses with open arms when I have traveled to their countries, and I was happy that I could offer that same reception.

Engaging with international trade teams isn’t something new for myself and my family. In fact, my husband and I have hosted many trade teams out at our farm for almost as long as we’ve been married.

I have pictures of our now 14 year-old-son welcoming a Chinese trade team to our Kansas farm when he was still in diapers. In fact, I have a collection of photos captured over the years featuring all of the international trade teams that we’ve welcomed to our farm and into our home.

These photos have captured us playing foosball in our machine shed with our guests, picking apricots together off the trees in our yard, playing with our farm dog or climbing into a combine or tractor together, and always enjoying good food and even better conversations. 

These photos show how quickly my children have grown up over the years while welcoming and interacting with our international guests, and it’s those images that are brought up and shared when we are reunited with our guests.

The most recent Chinese trade team we welcomed included a member who had visited our farm 10 years ago. We took a photo together then, which shows my husband with a bit more hair on his head, me holding my tiny daughter on my hip and a rambunctious little boy giving his best cheesy smile standing next to our guest who’d traveled half a world away to learn about sorghum.

We recreated that photo together when our guest returned last week adding to our albums for our next reunion.

These photos contain wonderful memories. But they are also proof that relationships built over the years matter. And even though we may be on different sides of the world, we will always have those shared experiences that we can refer back to when we meet again.