January 24, 2012
WHO KNEW?
New documents crossing my way today were many routine items: newsletters, annual handbooks, the December issue of The State Register. All valuable items to a permanent record of our state’s history. However, none out of the ordinary. Until I noticed “Afghanistan” in an article on the back of the South Carolina Market Bulletin for January 5, 2012. That country name—so far away from our South Carolina farms—didn’t seem to fit with a weekly newspaper that regularly offers tractors for sale! The article turned out to be one from Commissioner Hugh E. Weathers and reports on a project to send a team of soldiers from the South Carolina Army National Guard to Afghanistan for a full year to promote sustainable farming practices there.
Afghanistan has a strong agricultural past and nearly 80% of Afghans depend upon agriculture for their livelihood and personal food. Under colonel Brad Owens the SC team will not be coming into modern day farming; rather, they will experience farming as we would have done more than a full century ago. But crops that can grow there are similar to what we grow here: cotton, corn, tobacco, and fruits and vegetables. The team will introduce new techniques and some new technology in an effort to help the Afghans make a life after war and terrorism.
This current issue of The Market Bulletin is available at the State Library. Electronic issues are available at the agency website https://agriculture.sc.gov/content.aspx?ContentID=413 (a subscription is necessary to view the current issue).
