WEST FARGO - More than 120 visitors from 10 countries joined the Big Iron throng, seeking common ground relationships in agriculture through the Big Iron International Visitors Program.
The event is sponsored by the North Dakota Trade Office with the cooperation of the U.S Commercial Service and has become a regular fixture of Big Iron, which runs Tuesday, Sept. 13, through Thursday this year.
This year's group was heavily represented by sub-Saharan countries, a difference from the usual guest list that often is heavily represented by visitors Soviet Union countries, where agriculture is more similar to Upper Great Plains farming. This year's delegation is the largest to date from Africa. Visitors came from Angola, Benin, Ethiopia, Liberia and Nigeria.
Dalva Ringote Allen, chairman of the board of directors of the Republic of Angola's Ministry of Economy's Institute of Business Foment, was among those leading a 56-member delegation from her country, focusing on developing agriculture in the wake of declines in oil prices, which the country exports.
