Growing season on horizon in Iraq

An Iraqi worker dumps a wheelbarrel load of dates onto a growing pile during date harvesting

Around these parts, another growing season is coming to a close. The grain harvest is finished, the sugarbeet harvest is underway, and the fall chill is definitely in the air.

In Iraq, meanwhile, the growing season, winter, is fast approaching, and some of the Minnesota National Guard soldiers deployed there will soon begin working on a $1.2 million irrigation project that will help Iraqi farmers. The project, detailed by Command Sgt. Maj. Joel Schilling in a conference call with Minnesota reporters Thursday, will involve pumping water from the Euphrates River and using 350 kilometers of new and repaired canals to get it to the farmers' fields.

Read the rest at the Crookston Daily Times