An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Home : News : Article View
NEWS | April 26, 2012

AFGHANISTAN: Wisconsin Agribusiness team visits Afghan demonstration farm

By Air Force 2nd Lt. Stephen Montgomery Wisconsin National Guard

KUNAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan - The Wisconsin National Guard's 82nd Agribusiness Development Team had its first chance to check the progress of a demonstration farm in the Watapur District of Kunar Province April 16.

The farm - one of three the 82nd ADT oversees - was established by the previous ADT from the Illinois National Guard. The 82nd ADT met with Mohammed Wali, the demonstration farm manager, performed quality assurance and control assessments of the farm, and identified future issues.

"I think it was a good visit," said Army Master Sgt. John Dietzler, a soil science specialist assigned to the 82nd ADT and project manager for the Watapur Demo Farm.

The demo farm manger's son gave the team a tour of the farm, which is currently growing potatoes, tomatoes, garlic, onions, cucumbers and orange trees intercropped with wheat.

Dietzler said a canal project upstream is causing problems with the farm's irrigation system, which is affecting crop quality.

"Some of the plants were a little wilted, but overall the plants looked pretty good," he said.

After the tour, the team discussed previous training conducted at the demo farm. Wali stated three training events have occurred on the farm - spinach planting, winter vegetable, and orange sapling planting - training up to 30 farmers during each event.

While the previous ADTs have been more hands-on with the demo farms, Dietzler stressed that a cultural advisor and people called young professionals now handle most of the work.

"Much of what we are doing now is advising and facilitating," he said. "If there is a legitimate reason, we will then provide supplies and money, but we have to be justified in doing a project."

"A lot of time we go these places, we go to just give them ideas - they have the capacity to do it, we just need to encourage them," said Army Capt. James Schmitz, an agricultural specialist with the 82nd ADT who was also along on the mission to help assess the farm.

One of the stipulations of becoming an ADT-sponsored demo farm is the farmer must agree to reinvest 30 percent of the farm's profits back into farm maintenance and general farm upkeep.
"They have been living for today for so long," Schmitz said. "We're now trying to get them to invest in their future."

The Wisconsin National Guard learned it would gain an agribusiness development team mission in 2010, and the unit trained for 12 months before reporting for active duty in February and completing mobilization training at Camp Atterbury, Ind.

 

 

Related Articles
U.S. Soldiers with the Army National Guard speak with D.C. locals while patrolling Metro Center Aug 26, 2025. About 2,000 National Guard members are supporting the D.C. Safe and Beautiful mission providing critical support to the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department in ensuring the safety of all who live, work, and visit the District.
Guard Members From Six States, D.C. on Duty in Washington in Support of Local, Fed Authorities
By Sgt. 1st Class Jon Soucy, | Aug. 29, 2025
WASHINGTON – More than 2,000 National Guard Soldiers and Airmen from six states and the District of Columbia are on duty in Washington as part of Joint Task Force – District of Columbia in support of local and federal...

Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, Maj. Gen. Russel Honore, Task Force Katrina commander, and Brig. Gen. John Basilica, 256th Infantry Brigade Combat Team commander, talk to news media during the aftermath of Hurricane Rita on Sep. 29, 2005. Basilica was appointed commander of Task Force Pelican, responsible for coordinating National Guard hurricane response efforts across the State. The task force included tens of thousands of National Guard Soldiers from Louisiana and other states.
Louisiana Guard’s Tiger Brigade Marks 20th Anniversary of Redeployment and Hurricane Response
By Rhett Breerwood, | Aug. 29, 2025
NEW ORLEANS – This fall, the Louisiana National Guard’s 256th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, known as the Tiger Brigade, commemorates the 20th anniversary of its redeployment from Iraq in September 2005, coinciding with the...

Alaska Air National Guard HH-60G Pave Hawk aviators and Guardian Angels, assigned to the 210th and 212th Rescue Squadrons, respectively, conduct a hoist rescue demonstration while participating in a multi-agency hoist symposium at Bryant Army Airfield on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, July 22, 2025. The symposium, hosted by Alaska Army National Guard aviators assigned to Golf Company, 2-211th General Support Aviation Battalion, included U.S. Coast Guard crews assigned to Sector Western Alaska and U.S. Arctic out of Air Stations Kodiak and Sitka, Alaska Air National Guardsmen with the 176th Wing rescue squadrons, U.S. Army aviators from Fort Wainwright’s 1-52nd General Support Aviation Battalion, Alaska State Troopers, and civilian search and rescue professional volunteers from the Alaska Mountain Rescue Group. The collaborative training drew on the participants’ varied backgrounds, experiences, and practices, to enhance hoist proficiency and collective readiness when conducting life-saving search and rescue missions in Alaska’s vast and austere terrain. (Alaska Army National Guard photo by Alejandro Peña)
Alaska Air Guard Conducts Multiple Hoist Rescues of Stranded Rafters on Kichatna River
By Staff Sgt. Seth LaCount, | Aug. 29, 2025
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska — Alaska Air National Guard members with the 176th Wing rescued three rafters Aug. 28 after their raft flipped over on the Kichatna River.The Alaska Rescue Coordination Center opened...