Excessive rains caused much of southern Afghanistan's pomegranate crop to split, making the fruit difficult to export and causing many farmers to use their harvest only as animal feed. USDA Agricultural Advisor Gary Soiseth has been working with farmers of Arghandab District, Kandahar Province, to teach them that split pomegranates have value beyond animal feed, and can be sold to a juicing factory in Kabul as a means of recouping profit otherwise thought lost. Soiseth's work exemplifies USDA's activities throughout Afghanistan: connecting farmers to the market and increasing agricultural output, helping to ensure that agriculture remains a consistent, sustainable livelihood for Afghanistan's farmers.