Final Day Of Short Course

Today has been extremely rewarding to all of us who have been conducting the short course in Panama.  As we finished teaching yesterday, we were asking ourselves if the Panamanian participants were understanding and following what we were teaching.  We were not positive they were grasping what we were trying to convey.  We could not have been more wrong.  We started the day by asking them to share their "homework" or break evens they had constructed and they did an unbelievable job.  They took to the board and it was all over after that.  Today could not have been more rewarding to all of us.

"Give A Man A Fish, You'll Feed Him For A Day.  Teach A Man To Fish, You'll Feed For His Life"

Luis Constructs A Cow Budget

The Course Gets Interactive

The producers of Panama are enjoying the course, as are we.  It is very gratifying to see the producers of Panama becoming so engaged in the IRM project, as well as seeing the immense amount of passion they have for the agriculture industry.

Banker Bringing Up Issues In The Industry

Classroom At The City Of Knowledge

Mr. Johnson Respons To A Question

They Won't Let Us Go Hungry, I Promise

Lunch Break

Introducing A Budget-Their Homework

The Infamous Break Even

Short Course Begins

After an unforeseen travel delay,  due to the winter storm in the U.S., we overnighted in Houston and then left the next morning.  Fortunately everyone made it to Panama and got the short course started with no complications.  The course is going great so far and we have a great group of participants, as always in Panama, and are looking forward to the interaction over the next two days.

About To Get Started

Mr. Geider Making An Introduction

The Professors Feel Right At Home In Our Classroom

Coffee Break

Back In Panama For Short Course

The TCU Institute of Ranch Management is headed back to Panama to launch a series of short courses in conjunction with the producers of ANAGAN, a nation cattle association in Panama.  The course is a two day event starting Tuesday, January 7 and wraps up the following day January 8.  The Institute plans to share research findings which were gathered during a fellowship conducted by to Ranch Management graduates this past August.  We will also introduce topics such as an overall management plan, record keeping, budgeting, and sensitivity analysis.  The goal is to continue these courses throughout the year and expand on these topics so by the end of four courses the producers who attend will gain the tools and understanding of how to construct, adjust, and understand a management plan on a particular operation.

Keep checking the blog for live updates from Panama and the short course.

Enjoying The Canal Before We Leave

Friday, August 23
After the radio show we went to the Miraflores locks on the Panama canal where we ate lunch at a restaurant that overlooked the Canal. It was an awesome experience because we enjoyed an unbelievable buffet as we witnessed international commerce utilizing one of the wonders of the modern world.

View of the Canal from our table

Here comes the first ship

Two at once

Gates of the locks opening to let ship through

It's a tight fit as big as these ships are

Trying to give you a perspective of how massive the ships are

These guys are the orange dots in the previous picture

We leave in the morning on a 9:55 am flight back to Houston. Hope to be back soon to such a spectacular country.

On Air in Panama

Friday, August 23

Today is our last day in Panama and we are spending it in Panama city touring some of the historic sites, specifically the canal, and enjoying our last chance to experience such a wonderful country.  Before we do a little tourism, I joined Julio, Luis, and Fabio (a producer we visited on the trip) on a half hour agriculture radio program broadcast throughout the country.  Luis picked me up from the hotel at 4:50 and we headed to the studio to prepare for the broadcast which would air live 5:30.  I must say the traffic in the city at this hour is much more tolerable from someone used to driving in the metropolis of Pampa, Texas.  We arrived at a building downtown and proceeded to the top floor where the studio of Radio Panama was located.  We arrived before any of the other hosts and waited outside for them to unlock the studio and us to begin the broadcast.  As we waited it got closer and closer to 5:30 and nobody showed up to let us in.  I didn’t know if we were going to get to do the broadcast after all, however, in the no problems fashion that so many people of Latin America exhibit, the broadcast engineer arrived, let us in at 5:28 where we sat down in just enough time to go on air live.  I had a great time doing the radio program where I thanked our hosts in Panama for being so hospitable and making the trip so incredible.  I also expressed my thoughts about the potential for the producers in Panama being so limitless.  The climate (growing season year round), the cattle (incredible health and genetic base), and the geographic importance of the country position the industry for incredible success in the near future.

Waiting outside the Radio Panama studio

Spreading the word

A view of the city from the studio-sorry for the glare

  

Back To The Big City

Thursday, August 22

Today we left Bocas Del Toro on a flight at 7:45, at least it was supposed to be, but ended up being about 8:30, and flew to back to Panama City.  After about a 45 minute flight we landed in Panama city where Julio picked us up.  We spent the morning at the ANAGAN office discussing our trip with Julio and Luis, and discussed the plan for the Institute of Ranch Management moving forward in Panama.  It was a very productive meeting and I think the future is very bright for the relationship between IRM and the producers of Panama.

After our meeting at the ANAGAN office we went to eat lunch at a restaurant where the entrance/exit (depending on which way you are going) of the Panama Canal and the Pacific Ocean meet.  We enjoyed a great meal and continued to talk about how great the trip had been.  After lunch Julio took us on a quick sightseeing tour where we saw one of the ports along the canal as well as the infrastructure (small city within a city) it takes to run the canal known as the Canal District. The canal district is all the old military base and support facilities the U.S. military used when they controlled the canal before giving control over to the Panamanians.

A the view of downtown Panama City from our lunch spot

A little closer

A statue in the Canal District

The administration building of the Canal Authority