9-16 FB Ag to Afghanistan

 Bringing world peace with agriculture. I’m David…A team of guardsman recently deployed on a mission to Afghanistan focused on teaching farmers more sustainable agricultural practices. Lieutenant Colonel Neil Stockfleth is a National Guard ag section officer for the Ag Development Team. He says the group has been training since late May at Iowa State and Purdue Universities. There they learned about small ruminants, fruit tree production, plus irrigation techniques - all of which reflect farming in the Afghan region.  Here’s Lt. Colonel Stockfleth: It’s a very dry country, irrigation is a big part of what they need for their crop production, and so much of their system has been destroyed through 30 years of warfare.”           

The group will work with subsistence farmers in northeast Afghanistan - which is primarily a wheat production area. Stockfleth says they’ll focus on variety selection, fertility and irrigation scheduling.