Illinois welcomed international visitors from around the globe this past week for a tour of the dairy industry. 

The participants were from Mexico, Central America and Thailand. A number of dairy farmers made the trip including Jose Mariucci from Guatemala where he and other farmers started a cooperative similar to Prairie Farms. He liked seeing the different ways dairy farmers produce milk and says he came ready to learn ways to improve his own dairy.

The Illinois Department of Agriculture says they expect the economic impact of the tour to be about a million dollars in sales.