2010 Agriculture Tours
The 43rd Annual World Ag Expo will offer special agricultural tours:
Tuesday, February 9 - Thursday, 11.
The San Joaquin Valley is widely recognized as the richest, most diverse agricultural area in the world, with more than 250 agriculture commodities produced in the heart of California. Tulare County is the pulse of agricultural production in California and is one of the top agricultural producing counties in the United States. Approximately one-half of all agricultural production in California occurs in the southern San Joaquin Valley, within a 100-mile radius of Tulare, the home of the world’s largest agricultural exposition, World Ag Expo.
Tours will be offered each day, four hours long, at a cost of $30 per person, per tour. The wine Tour is $45 per person.
Reservations for tours will be accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Limited space is available for each tour, each day. All tours leave from Heritage Complex.
Last minute reservations may be made in front of the Heritage Complex during World Ag Expo, from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m.; Space availability during World Ag Expo is not a guarantee.
NO CAMERAS OR VIDEOS ALLOWED ON ANY TOUR SITES. NO REFUNDS!
Tuesday and Thursday Tours:
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Dairy Tour Tuesday #1 and Thursday #6
Time 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Elkhorn Dairy - Visalia, CA
Tuesday's dairy tour will feature two stops at local dairies, one a large modern facility and a second traditional, established mid-sized dairy.
Elkhorn Dairy is a large-herd operation north of Visalia featuring a state-of-the-art carousel milking parlor that handles 3,300 cows three times a day. The modern facility is also in the process of installing solar panels, giving tour attendees a first-hand look at the commercial application of solar power in the agriculture industry.
The tour will also stop a few miles down the road at the long-time dairy family's original milking facility where three new stalls have been added to the 30-yearold dairy. Attendees of the Tuesday and Thursday tours will also have the oppertunity to visit Milky Way Dairy in Visalia.
Milk Way dairy is a state-of-the-art dairy milking more than 3,000 cows, three times per day on a modern carousel facility. In addition, Milk Way farms more than 4,000 acres of feed crops to for rations to sustain its herd.
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Citrus Tour Tuesday #2 and Thursday #7
10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Lindsay, California
Tuesday's agribusiness tour will follow the citrus harvest from growing, packing and juicing in three separate stops. The tour will make a visit to citrus groves in the Lindsay area to see navel orange harvest in action and then follow the fruit to the packinghouse at Sierra Citrus to see fruit being washed, sized, graded and packed for shipment to market.
The tour also includes a visit to California Citrus Produce Inc., a juice plant in Lindsay where oranges too ripe for fresh market are processed for juice. The facility also processes lemons and citrus peel.
Wednesday Tours:
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New for 2010 Wine Tasting Tour
Time 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
For the first time, a special doubledecker bus will transport visitors to three San Joaquin Valley wineries for a unique wine-tasting experience on Wednesday, Feb. 10. The bus will leave the International Agri-Center Heritage Complex at 9:30 a.m. and return around 3 p.m.
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Dairy Tour #3
Time 10am-2pm
Wednesday's dairy tour will feature a stop at Fletcher Dairy located just south of Tulare, as well as an additional dairy facility nearby. Fletcher Dairy, owned by brothers Rob and Ed Fletcher, milks 650 cows two times daily on a double 14 herringbone milking parlor.
Visitors will also get a look at the commercial dairy's nutrient management system, to learn more about Fletcher's strategies for feeding and nutrition.
The Tour will also stop for a lesson in conservation tillage at Barcellos Farms. Barcellos Farms and T-Bar Dairy in Tipton has made the expansion over succeeding generations from a traditional dairy and corn operation to a diverse commercial custom farming operation.
Barcellos Farms uses state-of-the-art equipment including GPS and laser leveling to custom farm under conservation tillage and other modern farming techniques.
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Dam Tour & Nursery #4
Time 10am-2pm
Wednesday's agribusiness tour provides a unique opportunity to visit the heart of the surface water system that feeds the Tulare County farming region with a stop at Terminus Dam.
Terminus Dam is the local snow melt release point for surface water from Kaweah Lake, providing for flood control, irrigation and recreation. The Terminus Dam water master will provide a local water history of the region as well as information about water use from resources at the Dam.
The second stop will feature a visit to Monrovia Nursery's 400-acre greenhouse and nursery facility in Visalia. Monrovia is one of the world's largest producers of container grown plants with more than 2,000 different varieties.
The company has introduced hundreds of patented plants, which are shipped to independent garden centers nationwide from nurseries in Visalia and Venice Hills, Calif., as well as Oregon, Ohio, North Carolina and Georgia.
Helicopter Tours:
Local Helicopter Tours available before, during and after World Ag Expo!
For additional information, please call (559) 688-1751
or email info@farmshow.org.
Click here for more information on Helicopter Tours
International Visitors:
For additional information, please call 1.800.999.9186 or email international@farmshow.org
World Ag Expo reservers the right to make substitutions and/or changes to the tour program, schedule, and booking details. Tour participants agree to hold harmless the International Agri-Center, Inc. and it's directors, volunteers, and employees from and against any and all damages, claims, lossess and/or liabilities. *Note: World Ag Expo reserves the right to modify tour prices if necessary.
