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The latest weapon being employed by U.S. troops in Afghanistan is the farm. Dallas Morning News’ Jim Landers reports Sunday morning that a Texas Guard “Agribusiness Development Team plans to defeat the Taliban’s hold on the big wheat-seed farm at Khajanoor by building a larger, quality seed farm in the high mountain plains of Ghazni province.” Agribusiness teams from Texas, Nebraska and Missouri have been working in Afghanistan. Kentucky, Indiana and Oklahoma will send ag teams shortly.

In Ghazni province, the Taliban control the Khajanoor Farms, 2,500 acres of wheat fields and subsistence plots. Some farmers still cultivate wheat for seed, but the farm is in shambles. The flour mill is broken and the irrigation system is crude. The U.S. has found that the wheat seed harvested at Khajanoor is sold by the Taliban to farmers loyal to the Taliban. When the Texas team surveyed the situation, they realized they didn’t have enough troops to secure the area.

So, the farmers in the Guard unit (above) designed a wheat seed farm that could provide seed for most of the country’s growers. They figure that can begin producing seek by the fall of 2010 and both increase wheat production in the country and ween local farmers from Taliban control.. “This is way better than pulling the trigger,” said one soldier from San Antonio. “Way, way better.”

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