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Dacha owners are a promising new group with which to 

 work. They have organized into associations. They are 

 generally well educated, hard working and innovative. 

 Many are retired professionals. They hunger for all 

 sorts of technical information on food production and 

 preservation. 



Clearly, food production faces fewer obstacles on the 

 dacha plots than on the private farms. As a concept, 

 plots have almost universal public support. Private 

 farms are controversial. 



The collective efficiency of the dacha food sector could 

 be substantially increased. Printed extension materials 

 would be enthusiastically received. Also needed are 

 marketing cooperatives, small community food preservation 

 facilities, and (perhaps of greatest importance) frozen 

 food locker facilities such as those so common in rural 

 America. 



These possibilities warrant aggressive exploration. 



* Bring More Farmer Decision Makers To The U.S. 



A number of programs bring citizens of the NIS to the 

 U.S. for training or familiarization. These are good 



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