By ANN HINCH
Assistant Editor

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The research Purdue University scientists conduct in Indiana benefits not only Americans, but also farmers overseas.

Halfway around the world from her home, Shimaa Mamdouh attended Purdue’s Weed Day in West Lafayette on June 26.
She and a handful of other agronomists employed by Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. in Cairo, Egypt, traveled to its headquarters in Johnston, Iowa, the week before and were traveling the Midwest for a month to learn more about corn research.

Mamdouh joined Pioneer colleagues from Egypt, South Africa and the United States in questioning Purdue researchers about their work with herbicides and corn crops.

Just as in the United States, corn is an important crop in Egypt – perhaps even more so because farmers don’t have large tracts of land, she explained. Each person has about 1/2-acre to two acres to plant, and much land is irrigated from the Nile River, since it only rains during winter months (there is no snow).

And while U.S. observers were surprised by the news a couple of weeks ago of an increase of 1.7 million acres in corn planted this spring, over USDA projections, Mamdough said that number is even a little more than the total corn land with which Egyptian farmers have to work.

She studies corn, “as it is our life,” Mamdouh explained. “If you treat it well, it will give you everything you need.”