187 



Statement, S. R. Johnson Pi^e 7 



House SubcomitMe on Foreign Agriculture and Hunger Mjirch 31. 1993 



involve the agricultural technical schools. 



• Work more dosely with counterparts from scientific and educational institutions in Russia 

 and Ukraine and in developing the training and demonstrations. 



• Provide more follo'w^up for U.S. agribusiness firms that parcidpaie in the Agribusiness 

 Center^ involving as appropriate Russian and Ukrainian professionals. 



• Add training on joint ventures and the legal and regulatory system in the New 

 Independent States, using our Agribusiness Center joint venture exi>erience as the 

 demonstration. 



• Develop more specialized training courses and services for the new private farmers in 

 Russia and Ukraine. 



We are confident that with the benefit of our experience in 1992 and the good advice we have 

 received from the agribusiness firms and educators that parddpated in our programs, the 1993 

 Agribusiiiess Centers can be more efieciive in supporting the reform of agriculture and the food 

 production and distribution systems in the FSU. In 1993 we also plan to explore the establishment 

 of an Agribusiness Center in Kazakhstan. 



Background 



My own background and experience in the FSU dates to 1985. 1 had been in Russia and the 

 other rqmblics previous to that time but mainly for conferences and other professional activities 

 not directly related to the economic policy and tochnical assistance. In 1987, Iowa State University 

 iniriar/H a sdentific and commercial exchange with the All Union Academy of Agricultural 

 Sciences. I negotiated the agreement and administered it from 1988 to 1992. Under the agreement 

 we have exchanged as many as eighty scieniists annually and have established productive working 

 relationships with about thirty research institutes in Russia and other states of the FSU. Several of 

 these research institutes are with economic institutes and the relationships and agreements with 

 these institutes are the basis for joint policy research efforts now onderway at the Center for 

 Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD). The research agreement has now been reaegotiaied 

 with the sq>arate agricultural ti^Ai^nit^ ia the Baltics and other states of the FSU. Our CARD 

 reseatdi program inHtidfs projects on food atn'itanrr, technical efficiency of production during the 

 refonm, trade, regional economic development and environment. CARD also operates a trrhniral 

 aiw'srance program in the FSU funded by USAID and an agribusiness exchange funded by the U.S. 

 Information Agency (USIA). The USIA exchange program has involved seventy-nine FSU and 

 seventy-five American pamcipants since 1991. The program has concentrated on farming and 



