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USDA Employee Glenn Brown Returns from Rebuilding Iraq’s Agricultural Sector
23.06.2010 09:53 "Agro Perspectiva" (Kyiv) —
The U. S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) today announced that Glenn Brown, an agricultural marketing specialist with USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service in St. Joseph, Mo., has returned from a 16-month voluntary assignment in Iraq to help rebuild that country’s agricultural sector.
«The efforts of people like Glenn are crucial to help create stable, democratic, and economically viable societies in countries like Iraq,» said John D. Brewer, FAS Administrator. «Whether their expertise is in marketing, forestry, soil and water conservation, food safety, agricultural extension and policy, or veterinary services, volunteers like Glenn are needed to contribute their specialized skills to help farmers, citizens, and the national and provincial government leaders of Iraq.»
Since 2007, USDA has deployed staff to Iraq for long- and short-term assignments. Presently, more than 30 Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) agricultural or ministry experts are in Iraq. PRT experts work on a variety of projects depending on the needs of the province. All projects are aimed at helping Iraq reconstruct the physical and institutional infrastructure of its agricultural sector.
Brown served as a USDA PRT agricultural expert on the Baghdad embedded PRT-East and the Baghdad embedded PRT-West. Among his many accomplishments, Brown worked with colleagues to establish the Green Mada’in Association for Agricultural Development (GMAAD). This not-for-profit cooperative provides free technical assistance and training to farmers in four townships in Mada’in Qada in Baghdad Province. The co-op also provides access to low-interest lines of credit to purchase or rent agricultural equipment and supplies and to secure needed farm services. Brown also helped establish another farmer cooperative in the county of Abu Ghraib west of Baghdad. Born in Watertown, S.D., Brown currently lives in Cameron, Mo. He received a degree in broadcast journalism and dairy science from South Dakota State University in Brookings, S.D., a master’s degree in animal science from the University of Nevada in Reno, Nev., and an educational specialist degree in higher education administration from the University of Missouri in Kansas City, Mo.
In Iraq, PRTs are led by the U. S. Department of State and are typically composed of 50100 military personnel and several civilians. The PRT agricultural expert is one of only a few civilians on the PRT; the others are State Department representatives and U. S. Agency for International Development field program officers.
In addition to PRTs, USDA has many activities and programs aimed at strengthening the capacity of the Iraqi government, rebuilding agricultural markets, and improving management of natural resources. Last year, more than 60 Iraqi government and university officials received advanced train-the-trainer agricultural extension education at five U.S. land-grant universities on subjects such as water resource management and soil analysis under the Iraq Agricultural Extension Revitalization Project (IAER).
Programs such as USDA’s Cochran Fellowship Program and the Norman E. Borlaug International Agricultural Science and Technology Fellows Program have brought more than 60 Iraqis to the United States for short-term specialized training since 2005. These public and private sector policymakers, scientists, and veterinarians have upgraded their technical skills in a wide range of topics including techniques to control animal diseases, agricultural policy planning and budget management, and research in water resources, waste-water recycling, and irrigation.
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