Another update from Joe Honan.

Now everyone knows that I don’t know much about agribusiness and rural economic development. Being a kid on a farm doesn’t really expose you to more than the finer points of using a manure fork. (I’m also a good shoveler, not a fancy shoveler mind you, but a good one.) My job wasn’t to develop a business model but to do what my dad told me to do (or not do it if I could help it).
 
Having said that however, you can’t be around good farmers without picking up a little something. One is that the more a farmer can do for himself in the ways of repairs the better things are. What that means is that while we are here to support local government, I’ve been gravitating towards the Farmer’s Federation as the key to agriculture here. They’re elected by the local farmers, and while now they mostly coordinate government subsidies, they are in the right place to become a self-sufficient cooperative that really helps the individual farmer.
 
I’m not about to think that my solutions are the only way to do things, and I think we’ve forced enough good ideas on the Iraqis. But to be honest I just plain like the guys at the federation and want to do anything to help them succeed. I’m used to stoic New England farmers, and your average Iraqi is a bit more passionate and loud, but most days I can picture my grandfather in there sitting in the corner with a smile on his face. I think he’d find a lot of it very familiar.
 
So this is the idea, with the usual caveats about how I haven’t anything approved or even run it past the Iraqis yet.
 
I’m planning on a couple of projects that have one thing in common. Get the federation and the farmers themselves a source of income so they don’t have to stay tied to the government for seed and fertilizer. So we buy them some tractors that they can lease out to the farmers, and pay the salary of a young man who knows small engine repair that can go out to fix irrigation pumps at cost. Then the profit the federation makes goes back for good wheat seed, reefer trucks for the vegetable farmers and other needs. Once we jump start them with an initial input, they can be self-sufficient and we can be hands off. Added to this is a pretty aggressive training program on modern farm practices and equipment care being put together by Gunny M. Hopefully at the end of it all they will be more efficient and not be the mercy of any government or middleman. 
 
Another benefit of course is that it’s much easier for me. If you hear the farmers need, say help repairing their own equipment you can spend months visiting all the farmers, mapping their locations, determining who needs welding and who has to repair the air conditioner in his poultry farm, put it all on spreadsheet and build a curriculum. I prefer just to say “OK, scholarships to the vocational school, next subject,” then its chai for everyone.
 
I think it’s a good solid long term solution. There are of course issues. The big one is the risk of being played by these guys. We save a lot of time and effort by not trying to go to each individual farmer to find out exactly how many pumps are broken .When you work through any group, and if they inflate that number or simply pocket your money its going to take a while for that news to reach you. Then you know for the next time, but have wasted time, taxpayer’s money and your good name with the people you were supposed to help.  
 
There are ways to check on people without them knowing your doing it. I usually ask the same questions of a lot of different groups, to see who’s off the average, and innocently ask “hey do you know so and so?” to see if they’re connected. The big one is just to do everything out in the open. You make a deal, and then announce it to the world at the district council meetings and other venues. Then everybody keeps everybody else honest, because if it doesn’t happen like you said it should, people are going to let you know fast.
 
Not that you can ever really get rid of the corruption and the skimming off the top. I think anyone we deal with here is going to get a cut. You just have to start with the guys you know are in it for the people and not just for themselves. I’m talking Boston levels of corruption and not just outright theft. We don’t condone any of it of course, and hopefully we’ll eventually change that culturally. 
 
The move to democracy has been interesting here as well. The people of Al Anbar (mostly Sunni) have learned a hard lesson about not voting. Whenever they complain about Baghdad I remind them that if they want the government to be responsive they need to vote. Unless they are involved in the process you can’t really expect to benefit from it. That’s something that I really think they’ve learned, and I look forward to seeing the turnout here this next election.
 
I’ve attached a picture of a recent USO tour that passed through.
Steve Zahn Star of "Saving Silverman", "Rescue Dawn", "Sahara" and many more, Shamron Moore Star of "Zombie Strippers" and "The Bad News Bears" Tamie Sheffield
former performer with the Women of Wrestling and hostess of The Lingerie Bowl  Carmit Bachar former performer with The Pussycat Dolls and Camille Anderson who starred in "Wedding Crashers" and a former performer with the WWE .
 

You have to love a movie called “Zombie Strippers”. You know exactly what you are getting.