164 



RUSSIAN AGRICULTURE 



I appreciate the opportunity to talk about my experiences working as a volunteer 

 with Russian farmers and will share with you my findings on what works and 

 does not work in U.S. assistance to Russia as it attempts to move to a free 

 market economy. 



My name is Ted Gashler. I am from Abbotsford, Wisconsin, and am the 

 Associate Dean over the Trade & Industry Division which includes Agriculture 

 and International Agriculture at Northcentral Technical College in Wausau, 

 Wisconsin. I am also a sheep farmer with registered Hampshire sheep. In the 

 past I have owned and operated two dairy farms, one in California and one in 

 Wisconsin. I have also previously owned a milk processing plant in California. 



I am grateful to have served on assignments for Volunteers in Overseas 

 Cooperative Assistance (VOCA) in countries ranging from Poland to Kazakhstan. 

 As a VOCA volunteer, I had the opportunity to work on the following projects. 



1. The development of the first privately owned meat processing plant in 

 Poland. The plant will produce sheep and beef for Moslem markets. It will 

 provide a market for 800 members of the sheepbreeding association of 

 Southeastern Poland. This 3-year project will be completed in July 1993. 



2. I donated the first sheep to go from America to Poland since 1938 (and the 

 first registered Hampshires ever) . This project provided Polish sheep 

 farmers a means whereby they can develop a meat type breed to improve 

 the overall quality, quantity, and profitability of their industry. 



3. I donated the first sheep semen from registered Hampshires for artificial 

 insemination and embryo transplant purposes ever to go to Poland. 



4. I have been working with groups from Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia 

 and the United States to trade Polish wool for Russian tractors, made in 

 Belarus. This project is in progress and will provide a market for Russian 

 tractors and PoUsh wool. The tractors will ultimately be sold in the United 

 States, and will put about 1000 Russians back to work. This is a win-win 

 situation for all countries involved. 



5. Through the help of the Moscow VOCA office and the USDA in Moscow, we 

 were able to get U.S. cotton into Russia to provide the Textile Mill of 

 Ivanovo cotton to keep the factory in operation. 



6. Presently I am working with Kazakhstan agriculture officials to send 

 registered Hampshires and semen to Kazakhstan to introduce meat type 

 sheep in that country, just as I did in Poland. 



7. I am working with a state farm in Kazakhstan and Mr. George Dinner of 

 Global Agri-Tech, to send a complete cheese plant from Wisconsin to 

 Kazakhstan to provide a place to market milk for private and state farms 

 and employment for about 30 people. 



TG.017, 3/25/93 



