WEBVTT 00:00.240 --> 00:02.184 um why don't you kind of give me a 00:02.184 --> 00:04.351 background of you , I know you're Iowa 00:04.351 --> 00:06.500 farm boy . Yeah , let me give you a 00:06.500 --> 00:08.333 background , Give my my , I will 00:08.333 --> 00:11.730 lineage . Uh 11 raising the duke uh 00:11.740 --> 00:13.851 went to walter high school and that I 00:13.851 --> 00:15.962 was stating my first couple years and 00:15.962 --> 00:18.150 then graduated from University of Iowa 00:18.200 --> 00:21.730 in 1981 . Um didn't grow up on the farm , 00:21.730 --> 00:23.900 but my mom's entire side of families 00:23.900 --> 00:27.210 all farming the , my wife uh for the 00:27.210 --> 00:29.380 last 26 years , her family's all 00:29.380 --> 00:31.491 farming background . She grew up on a 00:31.491 --> 00:33.713 farm in your city Iowa . Uh and so I've 00:33.713 --> 00:35.824 got a lot of farming , my blood a lot 00:35.824 --> 00:37.936 of time on the , on the farm as a kid 00:37.936 --> 00:40.410 working and mainly with again my mom's 00:40.410 --> 00:43.160 side of the family helping them . So uh 00:43.170 --> 00:45.600 I feel a little bit like I'm somewhat 00:45.600 --> 00:47.544 confident this language of talking 00:47.544 --> 00:49.767 about agriculture and so she had a good 00:49.767 --> 00:53.290 discussion . Um I guess you've been 00:53.390 --> 00:55.501 some of the farms around there , tell 00:55.501 --> 00:59.000 me kind of what the atmosphere is for 00:59.000 --> 01:01.280 the agriculture community in Iraq . 01:01.290 --> 01:03.980 Yeah , let me give you , I guess , open 01:03.980 --> 01:06.202 up , maybe give you a sense of what the 01:06.202 --> 01:08.258 agricultural based here is inside of 01:08.258 --> 01:11.720 Iraq . Um They grow a variety of crops , 01:11.730 --> 01:13.960 uh wheat , rice and corn , the 01:13.960 --> 01:16.930 predominant crops , long barley , 01:16.930 --> 01:18.652 sunflower and then they've got 01:18.652 --> 01:20.430 addressable crop , potatoes and 01:20.430 --> 01:22.430 tomatoes and so forth , but a large 01:22.430 --> 01:24.541 crop have also called date palms , uh 01:24.541 --> 01:26.152 dates have been growing here 01:26.152 --> 01:28.263 historically for generations Down the 01:28.263 --> 01:30.680 years and that is a large agricultural 01:30.690 --> 01:33.430 products as well , about 30 million 01:33.430 --> 01:36.730 acres , which represents about 27% of 01:36.740 --> 01:39.570 all of our actual landmasses is uh can 01:39.570 --> 01:43.550 be cultivated uh that Latin land 01:43.550 --> 01:45.620 now today , as you fly over , it you 01:45.620 --> 01:47.676 can see the potential of what it had 01:47.676 --> 01:50.040 once been uh in the sense that it's 01:50.040 --> 01:52.040 clearly been segment off into small 01:52.040 --> 01:54.262 foreign parcels that had their land had 01:54.262 --> 01:56.484 been worked there . There was certainly 01:56.484 --> 01:58.550 lots of activity in the past . But 01:58.560 --> 02:02.070 unfortunately uh both the lack of 02:02.070 --> 02:04.650 investment by the Saddam era as well . 02:04.650 --> 02:07.560 Of course , 10 years of , since 1991 02:07.560 --> 02:09.616 story , more than that from 15 years 02:09.616 --> 02:11.504 since the first gulf war . And of 02:11.504 --> 02:13.671 course the last five years have really 02:13.671 --> 02:15.893 crippled the agricultural industry . Uh 02:15.893 --> 02:18.950 last uh thursday I have a chance to go 02:18.950 --> 02:22.640 up to to a G . C . A . I . J . I . Iraq 02:22.640 --> 02:26.050 that's north of Baghdad is a beginning 02:26.050 --> 02:28.161 of a solid farm belt that stretches , 02:28.161 --> 02:30.530 We live between the two rivers for the 02:30.540 --> 02:33.240 Tigris and Euphrates , known as the 02:33.240 --> 02:35.390 land between the two rivers . It is a 02:35.400 --> 02:39.170 very rich uh piece of the land , 02:39.180 --> 02:41.910 acres of land in which the bulk of all 02:41.910 --> 02:44.188 the real agricultural takes place . So , 02:44.188 --> 02:46.354 if you look on a map of Iraq , you can 02:46.354 --> 02:48.299 obviously see that the rest of the 02:48.299 --> 02:50.870 western side Iraq is is barren desert 02:50.880 --> 02:53.047 as you get further north , you're into 02:53.047 --> 02:55.213 into a significant mountain ranges and 02:55.213 --> 02:57.860 so forth . So , Iraq relies on the 02:57.860 --> 03:00.250 center of its country uh to support the 03:00.250 --> 03:03.460 agricultural base . And the one thing 03:03.460 --> 03:05.682 that you should understand about Iraq's 03:05.682 --> 03:08.016 agriculture and its dependency on water . 03:08.016 --> 03:10.071 Uh , they don't drill for water here 03:10.071 --> 03:12.293 and they can drill for oil and that's , 03:12.293 --> 03:14.516 that makes a lot of money for him . But 03:14.516 --> 03:13.670 there's no drilling for water here . 03:13.680 --> 03:17.230 All the water must be uh naturally fed 03:17.230 --> 03:20.180 through rivers , man made canals and 03:20.180 --> 03:22.590 pumps and so all the irrigation of the 03:22.590 --> 03:25.520 fields and cells require and you can't 03:25.520 --> 03:28.010 rely on rain to take care of it because 03:28.010 --> 03:30.121 there's just so little that as well , 03:30.121 --> 03:32.066 the water that moves down from the 03:32.066 --> 03:34.066 north used over the generations and 03:34.066 --> 03:36.066 these canal systems have been built 03:36.066 --> 03:38.310 right up to the point of a farm owners 03:38.310 --> 03:40.700 land which any pumps off of that canal 03:40.700 --> 03:43.200 and do a irrigated trenches into , into 03:43.200 --> 03:45.650 his fields , realize having electricity 03:45.650 --> 03:48.020 of course , and the electricity has 03:48.020 --> 03:51.610 been greatly affected by again , the 03:51.610 --> 03:53.943 lack of investment in the last 30 years , 03:53.943 --> 03:55.943 by Saddam and certainly in the last 03:55.943 --> 03:58.150 five years of war . So farmers are 03:58.160 --> 04:00.530 hurting on at the most basic level 04:00.540 --> 04:03.000 which is water . Uh , and the further 04:03.000 --> 04:05.830 south you go , the more difficult it is 04:05.830 --> 04:08.390 because the water does get fed down 04:08.390 --> 04:12.330 these canal areas are being often 04:12.340 --> 04:15.890 stolen if you will by legal tapping of 04:15.890 --> 04:18.550 the canals . Uh , as well as the fact 04:18.550 --> 04:20.980 that the canal systems themselves have 04:20.980 --> 04:23.020 been overgrown . Uh , I think we'll 04:23.030 --> 04:25.086 hopefully , if you have a picture of 04:25.086 --> 04:27.308 one of those canals here from up here , 04:27.308 --> 04:27.020 but picture you're seeing on the screen 04:27.020 --> 04:29.680 right now is , is the sheikh of 04:29.680 --> 04:33.320 the major area near Taji . Uh , 04:33.330 --> 04:37.210 he is a farmer of multiple generations . 04:37.220 --> 04:39.230 He's currently the only boy that 04:39.230 --> 04:41.341 remains in his family of three boys , 04:41.341 --> 04:43.950 obviously three brothers , his other 04:43.950 --> 04:46.172 two brothers were killed by Al Qaeda in 04:46.172 --> 04:48.070 the last few years . He has nine 04:48.080 --> 04:50.660 Children of his own and he lives on 04:50.670 --> 04:52.781 this piece of property and has all of 04:52.781 --> 04:56.200 his life . And he showed us his uh week 04:56.200 --> 04:58.311 production , which will show you in a 04:58.311 --> 05:00.367 second . Um , and very proud of that 05:00.367 --> 05:02.256 fact , but when you step back and 05:02.256 --> 05:05.780 realize he has no equipment , uh , he , 05:05.790 --> 05:07.957 when he turns the soil , he's doing it 05:07.957 --> 05:10.012 through renting equipment to do that 05:10.012 --> 05:12.179 when it comes to planting the seeds by 05:12.179 --> 05:16.000 hand and when they harvest the crop 05:16.010 --> 05:18.232 again , renting harvesting equipment to 05:18.232 --> 05:20.680 do that here , you see us walking head , 05:20.690 --> 05:24.410 this is the wheat field , probably uh 05:24.420 --> 05:26.290 several dozen acres again , hand 05:26.290 --> 05:29.930 planted a very good looking crop , uh , 05:29.940 --> 05:33.350 weed free . Uh , but you can tell the 05:33.350 --> 05:35.400 density of plants here and it's not 05:35.400 --> 05:37.980 something you would recommend again , 05:37.980 --> 05:40.036 because you're slowing it by hand is 05:40.036 --> 05:42.970 very regular . Uh , but it is how they 05:42.970 --> 05:45.137 do it , that's how they've always done 05:45.137 --> 05:47.081 it . Uh , I guess before I lose my 05:47.081 --> 05:48.859 thought on that , that's what's 05:48.859 --> 05:51.026 interesting about farming here , is if 05:51.026 --> 05:52.914 you think maybe back to , and you 05:52.914 --> 05:54.970 certainly wouldn't necessarily sound 05:54.970 --> 05:56.748 like you're hardly somebody who 05:56.748 --> 05:58.859 remembers the fifties , but let's say 05:58.859 --> 06:00.803 back in the back in the forties or 06:00.803 --> 06:02.803 fifties how farming was done by our 06:02.803 --> 06:04.803 farmers back in Iowa um they , they 06:04.803 --> 06:07.026 weren't relying on high tech , a lot of 06:07.026 --> 06:09.248 technology , a lot of heavy equipment , 06:09.248 --> 06:11.303 there was basic , simple farming and 06:11.303 --> 06:13.414 that's essentially where these people 06:13.414 --> 06:15.830 are at . Um so uh starting point where 06:15.830 --> 06:17.830 I guess the discussion is realizing 06:17.830 --> 06:19.663 we're not talking about a modern 06:19.663 --> 06:22.190 agricultural society that simply has 06:22.200 --> 06:24.540 been affected by war . We're really 06:24.540 --> 06:27.460 talking about a very simplistic 06:27.740 --> 06:31.320 uh agricultural society that relied on 06:31.320 --> 06:34.780 labor , hard work . Uh and again 06:34.780 --> 06:36.980 water it was fed to them through canal 06:36.980 --> 06:40.520 systems and access that water 06:40.530 --> 06:43.690 was available to them as was under the 06:43.690 --> 06:46.360 Saddam era , seed was given to them , 06:46.440 --> 06:49.650 fertilizer was given to them um 06:49.660 --> 06:53.260 and all those systems of delivery and 06:53.270 --> 06:55.437 the things they relied on the past are 06:55.437 --> 06:57.900 all essentially gone now . So he's 06:57.900 --> 07:00.730 starting an economy based agricultural 07:00.730 --> 07:03.210 system from the ground up and they're 07:03.210 --> 07:05.450 getting lots of help from agencies like 07:05.460 --> 07:08.800 us agricultural folks who are here as 07:08.800 --> 07:11.010 well as other agriculture related uh 07:11.020 --> 07:13.430 non government organizations , uh 07:13.440 --> 07:15.218 extension services from various 07:15.218 --> 07:17.329 universities and so forth . Are inter 07:17.329 --> 07:20.720 back to just again , help them begin 07:20.730 --> 07:23.330 laying the groundwork for a brighter 07:23.330 --> 07:26.820 future as farmers . Um they want to 07:26.820 --> 07:29.520 stay on the land , Remember the early 07:29.520 --> 07:31.853 part of my conversation with the sheikh , 07:31.853 --> 07:34.076 he said uh if we were talking about the 07:34.076 --> 07:36.242 fact that I come from a farming family 07:36.242 --> 07:38.242 in my life , families got 500 acres 07:38.242 --> 07:40.409 back in Sydney and he said , make sure 07:40.409 --> 07:42.464 she never gives up the land . Well , 07:42.464 --> 07:44.520 they understand that here too , it's 07:44.520 --> 07:46.742 all about the land and the fact that he 07:46.742 --> 07:49.100 can raise his Children and and make a 07:49.100 --> 07:51.211 living off the land . So they don't , 07:51.211 --> 07:53.433 they want that for themselves and their 07:53.433 --> 07:55.600 families . And there is a way to start 07:55.600 --> 07:58.990 that they actually have a passion for 07:58.990 --> 08:02.260 their atmosphere , just like Like us 08:02.260 --> 08:05.670 farmers one . Yeah , they really do . 08:05.670 --> 08:09.370 And they develop associations like , 08:09.380 --> 08:11.547 like foreign associations like we have 08:11.547 --> 08:13.280 back in and I look cooperative 08:13.290 --> 08:15.123 organizations that work together 08:15.123 --> 08:17.401 collectively as farmers . Uh there's a , 08:17.401 --> 08:19.512 there's a allegedly extension service 08:19.512 --> 08:21.679 here . It's not like a game out . Like 08:21.679 --> 08:23.901 we have used to where every , every one 08:23.901 --> 08:26.123 of the 99 counties in Iowa , we have an 08:26.123 --> 08:28.234 extensive extension service . Uh , it 08:28.234 --> 08:30.457 doesn't exist here . You don't have the 08:30.457 --> 08:32.720 major university base for uh , for the 08:32.730 --> 08:35.250 experimentation . Uh They do have some 08:35.250 --> 08:37.880 of that nearby abu Ghraib , there's one 08:37.890 --> 08:40.720 uh experimental university setting 08:40.720 --> 08:44.220 where crop management uh and 08:44.230 --> 08:46.570 livestock management uh , 08:46.580 --> 08:49.090 experimentation is going on , but again , 08:49.090 --> 08:51.590 they're relying basically on uh , the 08:51.600 --> 08:53.822 state having life provided for them the 08:53.822 --> 08:55.878 basis of basic elements of what they 08:55.878 --> 08:57.989 need to do their business . The other 08:57.989 --> 09:00.100 part of this is that this interesting 09:00.100 --> 09:02.156 is because it was again , almost all 09:02.156 --> 09:03.950 locally based , There wasn't a 09:03.950 --> 09:06.460 distribution system , there wasn't a 09:06.470 --> 09:09.430 complete , if you will value chain is 09:09.430 --> 09:13.130 the agricultural uh experts were 09:13.130 --> 09:16.740 described going from seed crop 09:16.750 --> 09:20.650 harvest into feed mills into 09:20.660 --> 09:22.990 producing products and on the shelves 09:22.990 --> 09:26.500 of stores , uh that kind of flow , that 09:26.500 --> 09:30.330 value chain doesn't exist uh 09:30.340 --> 09:33.920 and uh that has to be developed and one 09:33.920 --> 09:36.380 of the , I'll show you put aside if I 09:36.380 --> 09:38.380 didn't want to sign up for me now , 09:38.380 --> 09:41.200 showing you the sheep and beef value 09:41.200 --> 09:45.120 chain , you see on your screen . All 09:45.120 --> 09:47.470 right , can you see it now ? 09:47.480 --> 09:51.060 Okay , well , I'll talk to anyway . 09:51.070 --> 09:53.181 Uh you should be should be a slide up 09:53.181 --> 09:55.490 that basically describes what they miss 09:55.490 --> 09:57.590 here in Iraq is they don't have the 09:57.600 --> 09:59.767 feed mills , so if you're going to set 09:59.767 --> 10:02.650 up a large run of sheep to raise , 10:02.660 --> 10:04.820 you've got obviously you have to have 10:04.820 --> 10:07.820 the uh the grains for to be able to 10:07.820 --> 10:10.480 feed the sheep and they have nowhere to 10:10.480 --> 10:12.369 turn to for that inside of Iraq , 10:12.369 --> 10:14.536 there's no feed and all to produce all 10:14.536 --> 10:16.424 the feedstock they need for , for 10:16.424 --> 10:18.591 feeding out there sheep . So they rely 10:18.591 --> 10:20.647 on importing that uh which obviously 10:20.647 --> 10:22.813 raises the cost of raising those sheep 10:22.813 --> 10:24.869 tremendously . Uh So the first thing 10:24.869 --> 10:26.980 they're trying to do here is build up 10:26.980 --> 10:29.580 some local based uh feed mills so that 10:29.580 --> 10:31.691 the farmers grow the wheat and barley 10:31.691 --> 10:33.691 and corn , they can take into these 10:33.691 --> 10:35.802 processing facilities and part of the 10:35.802 --> 10:37.913 outcome of that of course would be to 10:37.913 --> 10:40.136 make feed products for farmers who want 10:40.136 --> 10:42.320 to raise beef and sheep . Um even if 10:42.320 --> 10:45.280 they were to raise uh and make a decent 10:45.290 --> 10:47.600 living , trying to do they have a 10:47.610 --> 10:49.721 little place to sell their their seat 10:49.721 --> 10:51.721 or their beef in a large scale . Uh 10:51.721 --> 10:54.950 There are no large stockyards uh to 10:55.040 --> 10:57.180 sell . There's not a market based 10:57.180 --> 10:59.850 economy associated with the price per 10:59.850 --> 11:03.120 pound of , of sheep or 11:03.120 --> 11:05.520 beef . And it's all just locally based . 11:05.530 --> 11:08.410 It's a almost a literally a customer 11:08.410 --> 11:10.466 transaction back of a pickup kind of 11:10.466 --> 11:13.960 thing . Um There is no large scale meat 11:13.960 --> 11:17.680 processing facilities um that 11:17.690 --> 11:19.860 deals with food safety and set 11:19.860 --> 11:23.520 standards . So there's a huge chunk of 11:23.520 --> 11:25.700 the middle of the value chain between 11:25.700 --> 11:27.990 the farmer that can produce a product 11:28.000 --> 11:30.650 uh in this case , livestock and a 11:30.650 --> 11:33.340 consumer who wants the product . And 11:33.350 --> 11:35.940 it's building up those bridges between 11:35.940 --> 11:39.060 those two that we're working on now . 11:41.040 --> 11:50.780 Um 11:50.790 --> 11:52.860 you kind of talked about labor how 11:52.870 --> 11:56.780 hands on intensive it is , and 11:56.790 --> 11:59.820 um you just got to tell me how there's 11:59.820 --> 12:02.870 not any facilities to really um 12:02.880 --> 12:06.200 take their products to the end . What 12:06.200 --> 12:08.860 kind of transportation do farmers have 12:08.870 --> 12:12.700 do they have ? Um Are they 12:12.700 --> 12:15.170 using pickup trucks and things like 12:15.170 --> 12:18.810 that to deliver produce ? And 12:18.820 --> 12:21.920 they've got they've got all the basic 12:21.930 --> 12:24.097 size trucks and that's not so much the 12:24.097 --> 12:26.550 issue here . Um But again , what the 12:26.560 --> 12:29.990 problem is you've got , you don't have 12:29.990 --> 12:32.101 the markets there are there , I don't 12:32.101 --> 12:34.323 have the packaging plants to package up 12:34.323 --> 12:36.323 the fruits and vegetables , uh , to 12:36.323 --> 12:38.434 keep at the right time . So you can , 12:38.434 --> 12:40.601 you can pick your tomatoes , uh , move 12:40.601 --> 12:43.340 them to a processing facility that can , 12:43.350 --> 12:45.461 you know , soon really handle those , 12:45.461 --> 12:47.628 those tomatoes packaging in such a way 12:47.628 --> 12:49.739 that they make it to the market place 12:49.739 --> 12:51.739 and you don't have all the spoilage 12:51.739 --> 12:53.961 associated with mishandling and you get 12:53.961 --> 12:56.017 the product to the consumer . What's 12:56.017 --> 12:58.350 happened right now is that Iraqis again , 12:58.350 --> 13:00.072 are buying imported fruits and 13:00.072 --> 13:01.961 vegetables by and large , because 13:01.961 --> 13:04.128 countries in the region that have more 13:04.128 --> 13:06.183 dance , Agriculture and market based 13:06.183 --> 13:08.128 economies have developed packaging 13:08.128 --> 13:10.294 facilities . And obviously , consumers 13:10.294 --> 13:12.517 are looking for a nice question . Plump 13:12.517 --> 13:14.572 tomatoes . Well , you can get a good 13:14.572 --> 13:16.794 quest . Plump tomato and I did . I went 13:16.794 --> 13:18.850 to a to a farm here . You've got the 13:18.850 --> 13:20.739 pictures of it uh , us at a where 13:20.739 --> 13:22.628 they've got several hothouses and 13:22.628 --> 13:25.030 they're going a wonderful product . But 13:25.040 --> 13:26.818 as you know , with vegetables , 13:26.818 --> 13:28.762 especially if they're not packaged 13:28.762 --> 13:30.707 properly , uh , it won't make much 13:30.707 --> 13:32.929 difference to consumers won't be done . 13:32.929 --> 13:34.818 Trust with it . So that's the big 13:34.818 --> 13:36.984 challenge is not not the growing in so 13:36.984 --> 13:38.651 much . It's the market in the 13:38.651 --> 13:40.707 connective tissue between that . Now 13:40.707 --> 13:42.929 you can understand to of course , we're 13:42.929 --> 13:44.596 still Iraq is still very much 13:44.596 --> 13:46.707 entrenched in a war here . There is a 13:46.707 --> 13:48.373 significant risk and violence 13:48.373 --> 13:50.540 associated with moving products on the 13:50.540 --> 13:53.500 road . So we're still not at a point in 13:53.500 --> 13:55.670 time in Iraq , where you can freely as 13:55.670 --> 13:58.220 a farmer load up your truck full of 13:58.220 --> 14:00.331 whatever it doesn't matter what it is 14:00.331 --> 14:02.750 and drive some distance to a major town 14:02.760 --> 14:05.200 and feel safe about doing that . So 14:05.200 --> 14:07.200 many of them will not need very far 14:07.200 --> 14:09.367 from their local areas , which again , 14:09.367 --> 14:11.478 is driving a lot of this in the wrong 14:11.478 --> 14:13.589 direction for now anyway . But in the 14:13.589 --> 14:15.700 future , as a security improves , the 14:15.700 --> 14:17.867 hope is that these uh that those kinds 14:17.867 --> 14:19.644 of issues of transportation and 14:19.644 --> 14:21.756 security of the product you're trying 14:21.756 --> 14:23.978 to sell , uh , just basically goes away 14:23.978 --> 14:26.144 and they don't , they aren't concerned 14:26.144 --> 14:27.750 with that . 14:30.440 --> 14:33.940 How many , uh , I should mention the , 14:33.950 --> 14:37.080 they also just a data point for you , 14:37.090 --> 14:40.000 the gross domestic product uh , here in 14:40.010 --> 14:42.177 in Iraq is fed from the oil industry , 14:42.177 --> 14:44.343 there's little doubt of that , but the 14:44.343 --> 14:46.399 agricultural sector Does account for 14:46.399 --> 14:49.070 about about 6% , and it's the second 14:49.070 --> 14:51.600 largest contributor to the GDP . So 14:51.600 --> 14:54.620 while while it's only 6% of GDP , uh , 14:54.630 --> 14:56.519 it's significant in another way , 14:56.519 --> 14:58.630 because it employs about a quarter of 14:58.630 --> 15:00.741 the population , is just going to ask 15:00.741 --> 15:02.741 what percentage of the population , 15:02.880 --> 15:06.320 nearly 25% of the population . Yeah , 15:06.330 --> 15:08.380 25% of population is involved in 15:08.380 --> 15:11.240 agriculture and it produced about 7% , 15:11.250 --> 15:15.100 6 or 7% of the GDP . Um , oil 15:15.110 --> 15:16.888 is not , is not nearly as labor 15:16.888 --> 15:19.280 intensive and it produces by and large , 15:19.290 --> 15:22.430 the vast majority of Iraq's wealth .