4/4/00

Contacts:
Ramesh Kanwar, Experiment Station, (515) 294-4913
Brian Meyer, Agriculture Information, (515) 294-0706

WORLD BANK STAFF TO LEARN MORE ABOUT IOWA AGRICULTURE

AMES, Iowa -- Ten World Bank officials will visit Iowa this month to learn about Iowa's efforts to balance productive agriculture with environmental concerns.

Iowa State University is coordinating the five-day workshop, April 9-14. The World Bank specialists lead agricultural programs in nations that are making the transition from centrally controlled economies to market-controlled economies.

The workshop will examine Iowa's progress in making intensive agricultural production systems environmentally and economically sustainable, said Ramesh Kanwar, assistant director of the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station and a professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering.

"The World Bank staff will learn about Iowa agriculture and see if there are aspects of our technologies, policies, education, institutions and legislative efforts that can be adopted for the world's transitional economies," Kanwar said.

Iowa Department of Natural Resources Director Paul Johnson will speak to the workshop participants on April 9. The workshop will feature presentations from farmers, business representatives, USDA personnel and ISU and University of Iowa faculty and staff. The group will tour farms, businesses and research sites near Ames, Harlan, Audubon, Greenfield, New Hampton, Fairfield and Grinnell.

ISU hosted a similar workshop for World Bank specialists in 1998.

The World Bank is the world's largest source of development assistance, providing nearly $30 billion in loans annually to its client countries. The main focus is on helping the poorest people and the poorest countries.

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