Seven other exchange delegates from Australia, Switzerland, Germany, Scotland and Ireland joined me. All of us were just as nervous after leaving family and friends, and none of us quite knew what to expect.

JFAO (Junior Farmers Association of Ontario) is the YFC equivalent in Canada, however it has only 400 members who meet monthly compared to our 25,000 members meeting weekly.

Over the three months of our visit, we were to travel the province of Ontario staying in a different county each week.

The President of Canadian Junior Farmers was getting married; and to raise money for the wedding he was holding a buck and doe party the first night we arrived and the exchange delegates where invited.

This was my first taste of Canadian life – cowboy boots, country music and two-step dancing. The car park was filled with monster trucks and it was only a short journey to get there (five hours!).

It became apparent from this first evening that we would be treated like royalty for the entire trip. Everyone wanted to talk to us and find out what life was like in our home countries, which involved many TV and radio interviews and press articles about our journey.

We delegates soon adopted each other as family as we toured around the province. Each week we made new friends, stayed with different families and were confronted with challenging and fun-filled schedules of farm tours, sightseeing, junior farmer dances and barbecues.

Farming in Canada is so different from my expectations of large rolling prairies and innovative farming methods. Instead, most of the farms were on 100-acre plots, and with an extremely successful dairy quota system run by the government; a three-generation family could easily survive on the income from 50-100 dairy cows.

The Canadians do have some of the best dairy genetics and they are extremely proud of this. Looking around so many farms also made me realise that the UK has the most red-tape in farming, resulting, in my-eyes, in some of the best welfare standards in the world, which now makes me proud to call myself a British livestock farmer.

We visited a huge array of farms, varying from apple orchards, ginseng, tobacco, vegetable and maple syrup growers to livestock farms, and I learned that Canadian farmers are under the same increasing pressure to improve farming methods and become eco-friendly.

One brand new dairy farm was a particular highlight of my trip. Stanton’s had brand new facilities to milk 2,000 dairy cows, three times a day whilst running at zero carbon footprint.

This was being achieved by converting methane into electricity, using some excess energy to put back into the national grid and mixing the solid waste manure with shavings to use as bedding. It was an amazing setup and obviously the fruit of some major investment.

After our first six weeks of touring we were given a break week. All of the delegates decided to fly out West and I hired a car and toured the Canadian Rockies. I also spent a few days as a cowgirl at the world-renowned Calgary Stampede.

The second half of the tour was just as amazing: white water rafting, kayaking, flying planes, night fishing, mud volleyball, water skiing on the lakes, camping, having evenings at the drive-in movies and touring other magnificent landmarks such as Niagara falls.

The three months flew by and, for me, it’s back to the day-to-day grind of paying bills and fathoming out the Defra red tape!

I had the time of my life and I made some lifelong friends from around the world. And the opportunity is there for the taking for any YFC member through the Discovery programme.

Whether it’s a working holiday in New Zealand, charity work in Kenya or European travel you’re interested in, please give it a go.

The tours range from weekend trips to Scotland to three-month home stays like the one I did.

I certainly had the trip of a lifetime that will never be forgotten, Thank you YFC!

Angela Kirkwood, pig farmer, East Riding & Brandesburton YFC