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U.S. army's farm program tackles Afghanistan rebuilding from the ground up - -

By David Zucchino

U.S. Army's farm program tackles Afghan rebuilding from the ground up

"U.S.
Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times
Farmers in Afghanistan's Parwan province harvest wheat by hand. Seven volunteer specialists with a Nebraska National Guard unit are teaching Afghans how to grow and store crops more efficiently.
In a nation where furrows are plowed with oxen and seeds planted by hand, a band of American soldiers is helping farmers enter the modern age. 'Maybe they won't need the Taliban,' says one trainer.
By David Zucchino
July 26, 2009
The Los Angeles Times
Reporting from Tarkmah, Afghanistan -- Master Sgt. Colin Jones grew up on a farm in Nebraska and earned a degree in farm and ranch management.

Now he's gone back to Farming 101, having volunteered for military duty in Afghanistan, where he is helping drag crop practices out of the 19th century and forward to, say, 1940s America.

 
"You have to keep it simple and grounded," Jones said one sunny morning in this picturesque village, where he talked about fertilizer, invasive weeds and beekeeping with one of the top farmers in the area, the weather-beaten Sher Agah.

Jones, 44, a calm straight- talker from Elkhorn, Neb., is part of the U.S. Army's first agribusiness development team in Parwan province and three adjacent provinces in northeastern Afghanistan. On his sleeve he wears a cornstalk logo, the patch of Forward 28 ADT, a Nebraska National Guard unit.

Since October, Jones and six other specialists have bounced in armored vehicles along rutted roads to visit remote villages where farmers plow with oxen and plant seeds by hand. His team of volunteer guardsmen is here to help farmers increase yields, improve efficiency and modernize their growing and storage methods.