Afghanistan, from p. 1 livestock's health, how to increase dairvproduction, and how to time their milking to the collectors' arrival, doubling the prices they earn for their product. His training has helped participating farmers double their milk production. Extension volunteers must teach participants on a one-toone basis in the farmers' homes and only with permission of male relatives.
Gary's Field Day included Afghanistan's first-ever livestock show, with best-of categories for cattle, camels, sheep, and goats. Gary served as one of four judges for an event that brought smiles, laughter, and joy to a nation torn by 23 years of continuous war, terrorism, and domestic slaughter under the Taliban. His success is best summed up by the president of one village's shura (ruling council): "We have 85 farmers in this area cooperating in the Land O'Lakes Dairy Revitalization Program. Their cows are producing more milk and the farmers are more profitable. But we have 1100 farmers in this village and we need all of them involved in this program."o.o Contact: Lockie Gary, lagary@ifas.ufl.edu

UF/IFAS lands sweet deal
with EARTH .
University Costa Rica
M eetings on January 23rd and
 24th brought visitors from
EARTH University (Escuela de Agricultura de la Region Tropical Humeda) in Costa Rica to the Everglades Research and Education Center in Belle Glade to discuss cooperative sugarcane research projects at EARTH's La Flor farm. These meetings, a follow-up to an IFAS delegation's visit to La Flor in August 2005, allowed faculty from both universities to draft joint research projects and


Putting the
Brakes on
Environmental r,
Damage Czech
t's an odd marriage, Republic &
 but it promises to Slovakia
be a unique and important one. Jack Rechcigl, professor and director of the UF/IFAS Gulf Coast Research and Education Center (GCREC), has initiated a cooperative agreement to mitigate environmental damage from automotive brake shoes, composites containing up to 30 compounds that produce toxic dust from friction. The new interdisciplinary agreement will team up environmental scientists at GCREC, the Center for Advanced Fiction Studies at Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC), and faculty from VSB Technical University of Ostrava in the Czech Republic, which supports heavy industry. "We're very excited about the joint project," Rechcigl said, "because it will allow UF/IFAS to work in a wholly new arena." Heavy industries in the region want to mitigate damage to the environment from the products they manufacture. The agreement follows a visit by Czech partners to UF, where they met with UF president Bernie

assign grant-writing responsibilities to fund joint research in sugarcane, the region's most economically important crop.
Additional research will include varietal selection, sugarcane biofuel, green cane harvesting, germplasm, and pest research. The faculty delegation that visited La Flor last August from Everglades REC and Southwest Florida REC consisted of Kelly Morgan, Chris Waddill, Ike Ezenwa, Gregg Nuessly, Mabry McCray, Robert Gilbert, Curtis Rainbolt, and Ron Rice. They met with EARTH faculty, industry representatives, and visiting professors in a very productive dialogue. .* Contact: Robert Gilbert, ragilbert@ifas.ufl.edu


 Jack Rechcigl, right, signs for UF
 Machen and UF/IFAS Senior VP Jimmy Cheek.
 Partners in Ostrava will ship brakeshoe dust to the U.S. for environmental testing. Laden with heavy metals and other toxic materials, brake dust adversely impacts air, soil, and water quality. The project's partners have developed a multi-million dollar National Science Foundation grant proposal which they hope NSF will approve.
 Rechcigl also traveled to Slovakia, where he visited the Slovak Agricultural University of Nitra, signed a cooperative agreement, and lectured to a standing-room-only crowd. Next month, graduate student Sylvia Slomova will study weed science under Jim Gilreath.o:. Contact: Jack Rechcigl, rechcigl@ufl.edu


 P.K. Nair
 Receives
 Major Honor Ghana
 T he University of Science and
 Technology in Kumasi, Ghana, has honored P. K. Nair, Ph.D. with a Doctor of Science honoris causa degree, conferred at a special congregation on November 26, 2005, for his outstanding contributions to the development of agroforestry worldwide. Nair, a distinguished professor at the UF/IFAS school of forest resources and conservation, is a world leader in the subject. He has received many national and international recognitions, including an honorary doctorate from Kyoto University, Japan. -*, Contact: P.K. Nair, pknair@ufl.edu


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