Ag training program celebrates 48th anniversary

MOSES LAKE - The 63 students in the new class of the Japanese Agriculture Training Programs started classes last week, continuing a 48-year tradition in one of the most successful long-term international exchange programs in the nation.

The program is operated through Big Bend Community College. The participants are enrolled as BBCC students, and mostly live on the BBCC campus for the first nine weeks of the 18-month course.

Program officials organize visits to local host families in town. "Many former trainees consider Moses Lake their second home town. Moses Lake is where trainees first stay with an American host family, take intensive English and are introduced to American culture," said Sandy Cheek, JATP director at the college.

"Instructors teach English on topics like tools, cooking, crops, shopping, farm equipment, telling time, and money. English related to safety on the farm is emphasized," said Doug Sly, the college's public information officer. "Since the trainees work in agriculture, Spanish classes have been added to the curriculum."

After the nine weeks, students go to work on farms around the United States. "Trainees earn wages on the farms, and that helps pay for program expenses. Administrative costs are paid by the Japanese government, but trainees pay for all other expenses," Sly said. "Their wages provide for a living allowance, with the remainder placed in a fund to pay for transportation, education and health care."

Students receive specialized training in agriculture practices, and are assigned to farms according to their specialty. The options include fruits, vegetables, row crops, ornamental horticulture and dairy farming, among others.

The students spend the remaining 15 months of the program working on the farm, learning techniques in their specialties that can be transferred to Japanese agriculture, Sly said.

An estimated 80 percent of the program participants work in agriculture or agribusiness, Sly said. "Some have become elected officials in Japan, including one who earned a doctorate in international economics and was elected a prefecture governor."

There are more than 7,000 program alumni in Japan, Sly said. College and program administrators are planning a 50th anniversary celebration in 2015.