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Iraqi Educator Learns About American Farming In Walnut Hill
July 28, 2013
A few farming tips from Walnut Hill may be put to use in Iraq soon.
Walnut Hill farmer Mike Koehn and UF/IFAS Extension Escambia County Extension Agent Libbie Johnson recently hosted Bashar Hwaidi from the Qadisiyah province of Iraq on a short farm tour. Bashar was in Escambia County with a larger delegation of teenage visitors from the Gulf Coast Diplomacy Council.
During his trip to Walnut Hill, Hwaidi wanted to learn more about American agriculture and take the knowledge back to Iraq where he serves as an educator at the Small Business Development Center in Diwanyah City.
Hwaidi learned about cotton and peanut production, GPS navigation, financing and marketing systems for row crop farmers.
Ben Koehn of Walnut Hill also demonstrated “hands off” tractor driving in which GPS navigation is used to steer a tractor over an exact path in a field.
Hwaidi explained that precision agriculture is not the norm in Iraq and that he was very interested to see how different production practices are between Walnut Hill and Iraq.
Pictured top and inset: Walnut Hill farmer Mike Koehn explain American farming practices to an Iraqi educator. Pictured below: Bashar Hwaidi from Iraq watches a GPS is used to self-steer a John Deere tractor through a Walnut Hill field. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Comments
4 Responses to “Iraqi Educator Learns About American Farming In Walnut Hill”
Cool story, its neat to know that our local farming practices can be taught and utilized to feed people ’round the work. Thanks Mr. Koehn for taking time out of your schedule to teach others!
It’s also nice to hear a positive story, it seems like lately its been nothing put murders, car wrecks and pit-bull attacks in escambia county
Great story!! This is really an effective way to promote good will and understanding.. More of these exchanges would go a long way toward bringing our people closer together!! I hope it is possible for more of our farmers to go to Iraq and more of theirs to come here for further cultural exchanges.. Great job, Walnut Hill
Best of luck to Mr. Bashar Hwaidi in his efforts to bring more modern agriculture to his homeland of Iraq.
Unfortunately, our news media focuses on the horrible scenes of war and destruction and totally neglects anything about the many people who want to live their lives in peace and be productive citizens.
Hopefully, this man can help his people learn better ways to help themselves.
Very positive article here, Thank You.
way cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I grew up learning farming from the people in the area and I am glad they are still sharing.