Topeka ? The fourth Kansas National Guard agribusiness development team is preparing to leave for a deployment to Afghanistan.

About 60 members of the team were being honored Friday at a deployment ceremony at the Kansas State University-Salina Recreation Center.

Agribusiness development teams spend a year in Afghanistan working with residents and U.S. partners in presenting new techniques for improving farming in the country. The goal is to make agriculture more efficient and effective by boosting productivity.

The team will work with the provincial reconstruction team, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the State Department. The deployment is expected to last one year.