Dr Paul Fox

What is the best way to conduct agricultural research in the middle of a war zone?

"Remotely," according to Dr Paul Fox, who leads a remarkable Australian project designed to improve crop production in northern Iraq.

"At first I didn't think it would be possible to do, if we didn't have researchers on the ground," he said. "But frankly, working remotely has worked out far better than I imagined."

Through a combination of photographs, film clips, a project website and meetings between the Australian research team and their Iraqi counterparts in a Syrian border town, Iraqi farm practice is undergoing a revolution.

After three years work the aid project has made significant strides in changing traditional cropping methods, reducing farm costs, increasing soil quality and raising crop yields.

"And of course it has also given us important insights in how best to deliver research projects to the world's trouble spots," Dr Fox said.

The project has seen the direct involvement of researchers from WA's Department of Agriculture and Food, the University of Western Australia’s Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture, the University of Adelaide, and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and AusAID who both funded the research.

Last week Dr Saleh Bader, director general of research at the Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture, was in Australia to negotiate a further three-year extension to the project.

Dr Fox, who is research project manager at ACIAR, said the final decision on funding was probably about three weeks away, but he was confident the project would continue.

When the project started in May 2005 the stated aim was to double production in Iraq's dry northern agricultural regions by 2008.

"But realistically the social and civil instability and the assassination of Dr Bader's predecessor meant it was not going to happen," Dr Fox said.

The original plan had been to send in Australian research teams for on-the-spot field visits so they could actively plan and see the implementation of changes to crop production on individual farms.

But no sooner had the research agreement been signed that violence escalated.

After the assassination a series of bombings occurred in Mosul and Tel Afar - centres for much of the project's activities. The decision was taken to deliver the research project "remotely".

"Despite all the difficulties we've still made huge inroads with the farmers and convinced them to give up their traditional tillage practices," Dr Fox said.

The Australian researchers were keen to persuade the Iraqi farmers to stop ploughing up their fields each time they sowed and instead switch to so-called "zero-tillage".

It’s a method used by many Australian dryland farmers and is designed to reduce the amount of top soil that is at risk of blowing away if the land is extensively ploughed during dry periods.

With zero-tillage the stubble left over from the previous crop is allowed to remain in the ground, and new seeds are sown between the rows. The system also helps build the amount of organic matter in the soil.

Dr Fox said that initially it was hard to persuade farmers to change their methods but an unexpected change in local farm economics convinced the farmers to give the Australian ideas a go.

The change came in the shape of an end to farm fuel subsidies. For farmers the price of fuel immediately shot up and zero tillage, which requires far less use of a tractor, suddenly looked the best option.

If as expected, another three year research and development project is agreed upon, one of the main projects will be to design a new zero tillage seeder especially for Iraqi conditions.

Dr Fox envisages the designs being worked out in a border town in Syria.