103 



percent chance the shepherd will find the lamb dead in the morn- 

 ing. 



As Americans, we now have the very short window of oppor- 

 tunity. We have to make a choice. Are we going to help this new- 

 born Russian farmer survive? Are we going to help sustain their 

 new democratic form of Government or are we going to stay in our 

 warm houses and let nature take its course, and watch democracy 

 die and witness dictatorial government return to Russia? 



Recently President Clinton said: "If we are willing to spend tril- 

 lions of dollars to insure Communist defeat in the cold war, cer- 

 tainly we should be willing to invest in a tiny fraction of that to 

 support democracy's success where communism failed. This Wis- 

 consin shepherd agrees. 



In my report, I have various means of overcoming this situation 

 and I would like that to be recorded. Also in my conclusion, I would 

 like to state this: Russian agriculture has the following needs: We 

 must continue to support VOCA and Cochran; continue to support 

 and advance the farmer-owned cooperative movement in all areas 

 of Russian agriculture; insure that all commodities sent to Russia 

 are noncompetitive with Russian supplies; establish a replica of the 

 successful United States/Poland Joint Commission for Humani- 

 tarian Assistance whereby the sale of United States commodities, 

 if they are going to be sent to Russia, will fund the financing of 

 small- and medium-sized food processing plants owned by private 

 farmers and farmer associations; create a Russian/American exten- 

 sion service; provide aid on evidence of democratic self-government, 

 not on the basis of Russia meeting immediate economic conditions 

 imposed by the West; earmark special funds for private farmers 

 and businessmen; and develop a foundation that can provide small 

 loans on current U.S. rates of interest to private farmers and small 

 business people that have successfully completed an apprentice- 

 ship-type of training program in the United States under the direc- 

 tion of a mentor. 



I know what I am asking for is difficult, but it can be accom- 

 plished. The impossible may take a little longer. 



Thank you. 



[The prepared statement of Mr. Gashler appears at the conclu- 

 sion of the hearing.] 



Mr. Penny. Thank you, professor. 



Before I proceed to questions and then begin to call on the sub- 

 committee members for questions they might have, I want to defer 

 to the ranking Republican on the full committee, Mr. Roberts. 



OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. PAT ROBERTS, A 

 REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF KAN- 

 SAS 



Mr. Roberts. I beg the indulgence of my colleagues, and I apolo- 

 gize for coming in late. The only thing that I wanted to do is to 

 make a personal appearance to give my personal best wishes and 

 welcome and thanks to a former member of our committee, Mr. 

 Evans. We have been meeting with Mr. Evans. We — that is Mr. 

 Smith of Oregon and myself — over a period of time to see what we 

 could accomplish in regard to the former Soviet Union situation in 



