Top officials from the World Bank are in Iowa this week to learn how the state tries to balance productive agriculture with environmental safety. Members of the bank are attending a workshop at Iowa State University.Ramesh Kanwar is a professor of ag and biosystems engineering at I-S-U and is assistant director of the Iowa Ag and Home Economics Experiment Station. Kanwar says the World Bank is responsible for making 30-billon dollars in low-interest loans to the poorest people in the poorest nations every year. He says they’ll take the lessons they’ve learned here back to their jobs.This week, the group will tour farms, businesses and research sites around the state near: Ames, Harlan, Audubon, Greenfield, New Hampton, Fairfield and Grinnell. Even though workshop attendees are from all over the world, Kanwar says there is no communications barrier, as most them speak english.The workshop runs through Friday and features farmers, business leaders, U-S-D-A officials and staffers from I-S-U and the University of Iowa.
