Recently I had the privilege to host a visit from a French organization called Club DEMETER (www.clubdemeter.com) at the regional variety trial. This is an organization of upper management individuals from a range of agricultural companies with operations in France. They meet regularly in Paris and exchange ideas for promotion of agriculture and addressing long term challenges of production and sustainability.

They also take regular excursions to regions around the world to see how challenges are being met elsewhere. With the help of a translator, I tried my best to answer their questions about almond production and challenges the industry faces from a farmer's perspective.

At the end of our discussion session, I was delighted to discover that they had set up an area in the orchard where we enjoyed eating nuts and drinking some excellent French Champagne.  It was a real pleasure to spend some time with these very friendly people.