The Foreign Service Journal, October 2015

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | OCTOBER 2015 43 promote organic farming approaches that rely on low-cost or no-cost inputs and that are sustainable and natural. We should not encourage farmers to take on debt or to buy expensive inputs—or pay for those inputs ourselves with grants and loan incentives through foreign aid funds. Instead, we should work with farmers to use appropriate-scale technologies, natural fertilizers and crop rotations, and a diversity of crops and live- stock to ensure better protection against natural disasters, bad weather and pestilence. At the same time, the United States should promote the licensing and production of small-scale farm technology from U.S. companies so that small American companies and the jobs they provide also benefit from international food assis- tance. Significant advances have been made in recent years in draft-powered farming (i.e., using horses and oxen instead of tractors), and these advances could and should be licensed for manufacture by small companies and entrepreneurs abroad, thereby encouraging manufacturing and job creation in devel- oping countries. By focusing on the farmers themselves, and what we can do to sustain and improve their work, U.S. agricultural policy can spend far less money and do more to promote food security abroad than we can through our current approach. We should promote knowledge and training in using appropriate-scale technologies, the use of non-patented seeds that will adapt to local growing conditions, good animal husbandry so every region of the world will develop the most appropri- ate livestock for its climate and terrain, and the use of natural fertilizers and supplements that do not degrade the soil or pollute groundwater. Our public diplomacy will also advance a more positive image of the United States by sharing the wealth of knowledge of America’s organic farmers through citizen exchanges and field visits, advancing the knowl- edge of sustainable and organic farming through support for agriculture schools worldwide, and preparing and translating books and manuals that will help farmers. In July, I spoke to more than 200 Amish farmers at the annual “Horse Progress Days” celebration in Daviess County, Indiana, about the importance of sharing their knowledge and experience of working with draft animals with farmers abroad. When I asked them if they would be willing to host international visitors for home stays and cultural exchange, every man and woman in the room raised their hand—clearly there is no lack of support for such citizen exchanges in the sustainable farming community. A Win-Win for All The approach outlined here will advance our nation’s food security goals and environmental policies globally. It will advance democratic institutions through the empowerment of a large, global land-owning and entrepreneurial class. It will help mitigate many ethnic conflicts in the developing world by pre- venting the displacement of large numbers of people into urban areas with no jobs. And it will grow more people-to-people link- ages between the United States and the rest of the world. Some large corporations may not benefit from this change, but many smaller American companies that produce small-scale farming equipment and natural fertilizers and supplements will, and the resultant goodwill for the United States and greater food security abroad will be a win-win for both donors and recipients. n In the Magwi region of South Sudan, Michael McClellan, then DCM in Juba, plows with oxen, the cattle typical of the area. COURTESYOFUSAID