Media Release - 15 December 2005

by Deb Clarke, Chair, IFYEOZ2008 Committee
for Australian News Media

9th WORLD FARM YOUTH EXCHANGE CONFERENCE FOR ADELAIDE

The 9th World International Farm Youth Exchange (IFYE) Conference will come to the Australia for the first time in 2008. For the first time in 21 years, the conference will be held in the Southern Hemisphere.

Over 600 participants from more than 40 countries around the world are expected to attend the conference, to be held in Adelaide from October 4-11 2008.

It will bring together people who have participated in farm youth exchange programs since they began in 1948, right up to today. The early programs were between the US and Europe , but this spread to include organisations and countries from around the world.

In South Australia , the program was through South Australian Rural Youth, which ran successfully in this state from 1952 to 2003.

All past members of Rural Youth are invited to participate in the conference in 2008.

In its heyday, Rural Youth had more than 2000 members in SA, and had an annual exchange program with every state in Australia as well as countries such as New Zealand, the UK, USA, Canada, China and Switzerland .

This conference also celebrates the 50 th anniversary of the P & O Exchange program to the UK , where participants travelled in a group via ship to the UK for their exchange program.

An organising committee has been working on plans for the conference since 2002, and it has been promoted in Europe, the USA and the Asia Pacific region. Past local RY members will be crucial in the success of the conference, from participation through to helping with the event and with sponsorship.

The committee is anxious to let past members of Rural Youth and Young Farmers groups know that the conference is on, and encourages people to contact them to find out more. More information is available from the conference website: www.ifyeoz2008.com , or by telephoning Deb Clarke.

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