Students studying agricultural and animal sciences and horticulture at Western Illinois University (WIU) in the United States will visit Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Wagga Wagga on Tuesday 12 March. The 12 students will inspect CSU facilities including the National Life Sciences Hub, Equine Centre, and Veterinary Clinical Centre from 10am to 12 noon when the Head of the School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences, Professor John Mawson, will host a barbecue for the international guests, staff, and third and fourth year agricultural science students from CSU. On Wednesday 13 and Thursday 14 March, the students will visit a rice farm at Leeton, and a sheep stud, orchard and winery at Griffith. Accompanying the students will be CSU’s Emeritus Professor Ted Wolfe and WIU’s Associate Professor Tom Bruening (International Agriculture). “Students from Western Illinois University visited Charles Sturt University in 2009 and 2011. Over previous years, three of our students have studied at Western Illinois University for a semester and we have hosted two students as part of international exchanges. The Riverina is a wonderful setting for agriculture. I encourage the farmers and local agribusinesses we visit to 'tell it like it is' in terms of family farm stories, industry issues such as finding good quality labour, the difficulty of coping with climatic and marketing risks, the ongoing water debate, and the problems caused by the high Australian dollar,” Professor Wolfe said.