The September Agribusiness Forum went overseas as Bill Huston related his experiences of 18 months in Iraq helping their agricultural community. Bill Huston has been employed for 23 years as the County Executive Director for Farm Service Agency at the Muskingum-Morgan County office. He also farms, with his family, a 200 acre fruit and vegetable farm near Dresden. Bill was part of the civilian surge sent to Iraq to assist the community in redeveloping the infrastructure of Iraq following the war. Bill related how the area of the Diyala Province of Iraq was an extremely productive agricultural area before the first Gulf War. Following the first Gulf War Sadam Hussein took complete control of this agricultural region and decimated output under a state controlled production model. Bill discussed how the Iraqi people were very hospitable and eager to learn new cooperative arrangements to maximize buying and marketing of their products..

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