A diversifying agricultural workforce has increased the need for college graduates who have the skills necessary to thrive in a global industry. Employers are searching for graduates with developed intercultural competence, including empathy, to work successfully within a diverse workforce. Study abroad programming is one strategy to promote development of these skills. Our study explored and described the growth of student intercultural competence and empathy development before and after participation in a combined learning community study abroad program. In July 2019, 9 students completed a short-term program to study animal production in Italy with a follow-up 16-week on-campus course. Students participated in written reflective activities throughout the program. The Intercultural Development Inventory and Intercultural Knowledge and Competence VALUE rubric were used to measure general intercultural growth and empathy development. Although, there were no changes in overall group intercultural development, the majority of students (n=5; 55.6%), progressed meaningfully on the Intercultural Development Continuum. Qualitative analysis of written responses to empathy prompts revealed an increase in students’ demonstration of empathy as the semester progressed. Our results support the use of deliberate intercultural interventions in international programming to impact development of both student intercultural competence and empathy.