Over the last three decades, many of Afghanistan's farmers have perished in wars or they've fled the land. Their skills have gone with them. Once a major exporter of dried fruits, nuts and exotic crops such as pomegranates, Afghanistan is now known mainly for growing poppies for the opium trade.
     The U.S. Army is trying to teach Afghan farmers how to better manage their tiny farms, often just an acre or less, as well as introduce farming concepts to people who've never tried to produce their own food. One surprising find, according to Col. Martin Leppert, who oversees the Army National Guard agribusiness effort, is that yields were being drastically reduced by over-fertilization.
     The soldiers pictured here, many of whom grew up on Midwestern farms, are showing Afghani farmers how to whitewash the trunk of a fruit trees as a pest control measure.
     An Indiana National Guard unit recently returned from an 11-month mission to Khowst province, on the Pakistan border. They trained 50 farmers in each of Khowst's 13 provinces in things like pruning techniques, drip irrigation, and seeding practices. The goal is to help subsistence farmers actually sustain their families, then develop the expertise to grow and market things like apples and wheat beyond their needs.
     There's a story about the Army's work in yesterday's Washington Post by AP writer Rick Callanan. You can read it here:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/06/AR2010010600282.html

     There was another farm show this week in York, Pa., a week ahead of the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg.  With no livestock, no commodity queens, very few kids and food that made it easy to stick to your New Year's resolutions, the annual Keystone Farm Show was nevertheless a big draw for farmers who wanted to see lots of big equipment under one roof. Which was actually six roofs at the York Expo Center, plus a lot of stuff outside. Yours truly drove to the show, talked to some people, took some pictures and wrote up the experience for our issue due out Saturday. The combine shown here was one of the bigger draws.

     Shouldn't these kids be doing their homework?  http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/gundam-stop-motion/20bnh38e