by Ted Hartzell

     Luis Santini came from Puerto Rico, Eduardo Sequeira from Costa Rica, and Jaime Hernandez from Indiana, although his roots are in Mexico two generations back.
     Their paths crossed at Purdue University in Indiana, where two of them graduated with degrees in agricultural systems management (ASM) and where the third expects to get his ASM degree in late 2003.
     None learned English as their first language, although two have spoken it easily for years, and the third is well on his way to mastering it.
     High school students living outside the United States who are thinking about a career in agriculture might want to take some tips from these young Hispanic men. Armed with degrees that blend the science of agriculture with its business and management sides – and with the ability to communicate in two of the world’s dominant languages – they are now poised to head out into the world of international agriculture.
     Santini and Sequeira talk ultimately about returning to their homelands and starting their own businesses. Hernandez talks idealistically about becoming a “pioneer” and helping South American countries conquer problems of poor transportation and grain quality.
     Here is a glimpse into how they became interested in agriculture, what they have found useful in their ASM studies, and how they plan to use their degrees.

Luis Santini – “Nothing is Impossible”
     Santini, 21, apparently likes a real challenge. He certainly got one. He didn’t speak a word of English when he came to Purdue, although he could read it well enough to get “the concept.”
     The people in Puerto Rico who knew him wondered what he was doing. They questioned how he was going to be able to pass the first semester without speaking English, Santini says.
     How did he? He made himself talk the language. “That’s what I did: talk and talk and talk and make a lot of friends. That was the key here,” says Santini.
     He had no English tutoring or any special help at Purdue. Sometimes, he says, he had no clue about what his professors were saying, but he kept working at the language.
     He traces his interest in agriculture back to when he was 12 or 13 and visited his grandfather’s farm in Puerto Rico. He remembers the cows, poultry, and horses. “We were basically every day working with the horses,” says Santini.
     His father had a little grocery store, and Santini thinks he eventually would like to return to Puerto Rico and open his own grocery stores and a gym.
     But he expects that his first job after graduation will probably be with a large company that sends him to South or Central America or some other Spanish-speaking part of the world. Then, he envisions returning to the Midwest and working as a salesman.
     “I really like this area,” says Santini, acknowledging, “It’s kind of cold.”
     Santini likes the variety of courses in the ASM degree. He mentions various components – science, management, sales, ag economics.
     “In my opinion, it’s very different. It’s not just concentrating on agriculture. That (the variety) was the main thing that I liked,” he says.
     He put those studies to practical use during an internship for the global agriculture company Archer Daniels Midland at a grain elevator and learned such things as how to use the scales and grade the grain.
     What advice would he give to international students thinking of coming to the United States and studying as he has? “Nothing is impossible,” he says emphatically. “It doesn’t matter what you want. If you’ve set your goal, just try to do it with the time available. You’re going to feel proud of yourself.
     “Always keep your parents close to you, because that’s the main support you’re always going to have.”

Eduardo Sequeira Finds His Niche
     When he was 3, Sequeira’s family moved from civil war-torn Nicaragua to Costa Rica. He started learning English then and later attended a private American school that encouraged students to study in the United States.
     When it was time to choose a college, Sequeira, who does not come from a farm background but lived in a lush valley surrounded by mountains, visited farms with his friends. Something told him this was his future.
     "I don't know, something triggered in me," he says, trying to recall when he chose farming or, more precisely, it chose him. "I think it was just working with nature. I think there's like something spiritual about it ¨C spiritual and traditional ¨C passed on through generations, done throughout history."
     He arrived at Purdue thinking he would study agricultural engineering, and then maybe return to Central America and run a technical ag operation. But ag engineering seemed to be "a lot of design," and Sequeira wanted to be out more, meeting people, and getting more of a business perspective of agriculture.
     "ASM was perfect for me," he says. "I found my place, the area I wanted to be in exposure to the technical side, machines, animal sciences, botany classes."

Jaime Hernandez

Even though he found his niche in ASM at Purdue (with a second degree in agricultural economics), Sequeira thinks American agriculture schools rely too much on books and not enough on going out and working. He got a good taste of the latter during two summer internships in Costa Rica. The first summer he worked at an African palm processing plant. It was there that he was intrigued by a mesh device he had never seen before ¨C one that slowly separates the palm oil and the water. He asked where the idea had come from and was told the plant manager had probably discovered it when he worked in India.

     The second summer he attended an agriculture college called EARTH (Escuela Agricola de la Region Tropico Humedo). He says students spend their first two years dividing their days in half between field labor ¨C doing such jobs as working in cattle operations or banana fields in the morning ¨C and then "they go to classes like normal students" the rest of the day. Sequeira worked at a dairy facility feeding, milking, herding, and vaccinating cattle. He also worked at an organic farm for a week. This type of education takes book learning and shows students that they "have to learn how to do it," he says.
     Sequeira, 22, is sold on the virtue of soaking up ideas through travel. "People think different in different parts of the world," he says. "I think it's important to get out there. I'd love to see the world, definitely."
     Sequeira is hoping to travel with a company when he graduates and get more experience. He would eventually like to settle back in Costa Rica or Nicaragua and perhaps start an agribusiness or go into farming or processing and come up with a value-added product.

Jaime Hernandez, Pioneering a Future
     Hernandez, 26, and his identical twin, Sergio, have been crisscrossing the United States for a year and a half with Archer Daniels Midland on what you might call The Grain Elevator Tour. They have been working at river and inland elevators in Illinois, Ohio, Kansas, Louisiana, and Texas.
     The tour was the company's way of grooming them for a five-year stay together, beginning early this year in either Paraguay or Brazil, as part of their work in the Grain Operations Group. They will be working at inland, river, and port facilities. They'll need to learn some Portuguese, but Hernandez says it is very similar to Spanish, so he is not worried.

Eduardo Sequiera

The twins grew up in Flora, Ind., near Purdue, but they did not learn to speak English until they were 5 or 6 years old. Their grandfather was a migrant worker who arranged to hire other migrants, and that is how the twins' father, from Mexico, and their mother, from the Texas side of the border, met.      Although the family has this background, Hernandez attributes their interest in agriculture to someone else. "What got us involved was pretty much our ag teacher in high school," says Hernandez. "He was basically the guy that got us interested in the agriculture industry." Hernandez took agribusiness and farm management classes in high school, and even worked a part-time job on a hog farm during the regular school year.

     What did he like about his ASM studies in college? "If you like to work outside, and you like to work with your hands and are good with your hands, I think a degree in ASM would be something to consider." Hernandez answers. "It allows you not only to manage people, but (involves you in) how the industry works."
     He has been spending a lot of time managing hourly employees, and says, if he wanted, he could simply tell them to do the dirty work. But he works with them to splice belts or tighten chain links or change buckets on an elevator leg. "I do it because I like it," he says. "I don't have to."
     He also likes how he learned through his ASM degree to come up with solutions. For example, if he wanted to know how to build a bin or form a slip for concrete houses, "I took a class to basically build it and make it work."
     After his five-year commitment in South America, Hernandez might remain there longer so he can stay involved in international agriculture. For one thing, he is motivated to help as "a pioneer down there" trying to improve what he says is a weak agricultural transportation system.