100 



We also call forward Professor Ted Gashler, associate dean, 

 Northcentral Technical College, Wausau, Wisconsin and a VOCA 

 volunteer. I have a bit of a bias regarding the worth of this pro- 

 gram, given the fact that my former agricultural staffer manages 

 this program in Moscow, but with that as a caveat or a label, as 

 a warning to the audience, I do feel that this aid program has the 

 potential of paying big dividends for both America and for the re- 

 cipients on the Russian side, and with that as an introduction, I 

 welcome you, Mr. Evans, to the subcommittee and ask you to sum- 

 marize your remarks and we will proceed from here. 



STATEMENT OF COOPER EVANS, MEMBER, BOARD OF DIREC- 

 TORS, VOLUNTEERS IN OVERSEAS COOPERATIVE ASSIST- 

 ANCE 



Mr. Evans. Well, thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, it is in- 

 deed a pleasure to be back in this room, and I am delighted to have 

 a chance to comment. In the 5 minutes available, I really want to 

 touch lightly on three subjects. First, the realities of the situation. 

 Second, what I think the prospects are, and third, some sugges- 

 tions that might improve the effectiveness of the program. 



I think it is very important to understand the realities, and to 

 me one of the most important of those is that on those farms in 

 the former Soviet Union, there is a great excess of people. We have 

 perhaps 5 million people residing on our farms. There are like 35 

 million on their farms. Eighty percent of the people would have to 

 find other employment or other roles in life if they were to convert 

 to our form of agriculture. Clearly that is not going to happen over- 

 night. 



The second point I think is a comparable social issue, and that 

 is the fact that their farms are not like our farms. Their farms are 

 communities that provide a wide range of social support to all of 

 their members. And including support of the elderly, and so when 

 you talk about making radical changes or leaving the farm, it is a 

 bit like saying, hey, let's do away with Social Security and Medi- 

 care. It is an extremely emotional issue. 



The third point I would make, in reality is the curse of speciali- 

 zation. A very high percentage of people on those farms are highly 

 specialized in tasks that have nothing to do with management or 

 finance, and so when you say to those people, let's go out and farm 

 on our own, it is truly a terrifying thought. I think one also has 

 to note that there is no history of risk-taking in the Soviet Union, 

 even before the Communist days. 



I think one has to note the absence of appropriate laws to sup- 

 port private agriculture, even the matter of what ownership of land 

 means is not at all well defined. 



Finally, banks and credit, well understood that that is a problem 

 and I go into that at some length in my written testimony. The 

 point I am making is that solutions have to address these realities 

 or they are not real solutions, particularly the social realities. 



The good news is that in spite of all of this, 1 percent of the peo- 

 ple have made the change. There are a number of farms that have 

 made the change totally, the whole organization. Who are these 

 people? Most of the people who have made the change are profes- 

 sionals. They are not the workers. I think the prospects then are 



