Iowa National Guard Exports Farmers
Posted: January 13, 2010
Like most of you my initial reaction when I hear Iraq or Afghanistan is to flinch because it is usually followed by words like road-side-bomb and casualties. For this reason alone a recent story in the Des Moine Register caught my attention because it dealt with humanitarian outreach by the state’s National Guard.
It seems Iowa is sending a farm development team to Afghanistan in the fall while it deploys a 3,500-member combat force to the war-torn country.
The farm team will comprise nearly 60 Iowa soldiers and airmen. It will be designed to provide expertise, advice and training in agricultural-related specialties and businesses to Afghan universities, provincial-level ministries, local farmers and agri-businesses, said Maj. Michael Wunn, an Iowa National Guard spokesman.
I guess is should come as no big surprise that agriculture experts would come from an agricultural powerhouse like Iowa, nor that this uplifting story didn’t make the national news, but it is cool regardless.
It might be too much to hope for that this warn torn land might melt its weapons to convert them to plow shares but it is not unreasonable to hope that if we can teach them to grow crops well and profitably that they might forgo producing poppies that are responsible for most of the world’s opium production.
Bob Parkhurst Said,
January 13, 2010 @ 11:43 pm
I’m curious what kind of ag they plan to teach them: Iowa-type industrial agriculture with farm machines that burn 25 gallons of diesel fuel per hour growing the traditional American subsidized crops using huge amounts of fertilizer and ag chemicals; or, the sustainable type agriculture a traditional Afghan farmer might use on small parcels of land that have been handed down over countless generations.
Traditional farm cops in Afghanistan (other than poppies) are cotton, barley, wheat, rice, fruit and nuts — none of which are all that common in Iowa. Principal livestock are goats and sheep — again not common in Iowa.
It would be nice also to see the AFBF reach out in an effort like this.
Ian Brathwaite Said,
January 15, 2010 @ 10:49 pm
I think I can say with some confidence those Iowa National Guard farmers won’t be teaching the Afghanis the latest techniques for raising hogs. I heard last week that there is only one pig in all of Afghanistan, and that’s in the national zoo in Kabul. Apparently, they keep one there so the Muslims in Afghanistan can at least see what the animal looks like.