125 



we just haven't found the right advertising company. But we have 

 been working with an advertising company in Moscow as well as 

 in Minnesota. 



Mr. Barlow. Mr. Joseph, do you have any comments? 



Mr. Joseph. The urgency of tiie problem is the important concept 

 that we must emphasize tiiis morning. Rural Russia, 40 percent of 

 the population has to have some comfort so that their pressure on 

 the center is reduced. Without that, we are going to lose the center, 

 and Lord knows what we are going to end up with. 



I think short-term, microquick possibihties are available to us. It 

 has been suggested by Dr. Johnson that a bit of loan support in the 

 rural areas would go a long way, and it would mEike a very imme- 

 diate response. We need to put together the programs and the 

 projects that wUl give rural Russia a 40 percent chance to make 

 some money and to get themselves comforted and stay off the cen- 

 ter. 



Mr. Barlow. Thank you. 



Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



Mr. Johnson. I would underscore my earMer comment. I think 

 that we need to remember that, even in this country and in many 

 other countries in the world, the technology and service companies 

 that are the source of a lot of growth in agriculture are relatively 

 small. 



And, in the case of our agribusiness center, every one of the com- 

 panies that we took there found some kind of a joint venture oppor- 

 tunity that they were interested in. But most of them are relatively 

 small companies, and they can't take the joint venture risk where 

 property rights are not very well defined, communication is bad, 

 nobody knows how the legal system will evolve, et cetera. 



And I think some kind of a program that woxild energize what 

 is really a big private force out in the hinterlands in this country, 

 a great willingness to help with these reforms and share the risk 

 associated with broadening the participation or primsirily in the 

 processing aind distribution system, that would be very good. And 

 if that could be done in such a way that small- and medium-sized 

 agribusiness firms weren't closed out just because of the bureauc- 

 racy, it would be a great contribution. 



Mr. Barlow. Thank you. 



Thank you, sir. 



Mr. Penny. Thank you. 



Burton, you talked about the language in the Freedom Support 

 Act that dealt with storage facilities. Refi-esh my memory. Does 

 that deal with the utihzation of some of our credit guarantees or 

 the movement of that type of structure? And, if so, how do we sell 

 those products under the GSM program and yet get them down to 

 the individual farmer, which seems to be the centerpiece of your 

 plan? 



Mr. Joseph. The Freedom Support Act encourages the use of 

 joint ventures. We are prepared and we have joint venture partners 

 in rural Russia to set up manufacturing plants to put together 

 farm storage. These are not large units. These are 500, 1,000-ton 

 storage units, but they are so desperately needed because, other- 

 wise, the grain lays on the ground. 



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