, 266 



The coming three months, April, May and Jane, mark the period of greatest food shortages, 

 especially in grains. Even though grain purchased now will not arrive until May or Jimc, at the 

 earliest, the knowledge that it is under way will enable Russian authorities to draw down stocks to 

 levels that might otherwise be dangerous. 



There is another reason. It must be assumed that grain is being held back by domestic 

 producers. In Russia and in other states of the FSU, especially Kazakhstan and Ukraine, fai 

 antidpatJon of higher prices or more favorable barter trades. The prospective arrival of imported 

 grain could un-block these Internal supplies. Those holding for trading advantages would be likely 

 to conclude that it was time to sell, before imported grain dampened or reversed domestic price 

 movements. 



Beginning with the advent of Glasnost. and accelerating since 1991, contacU between the 

 peoples of the United States and the FSU have largely been confined to consciousness raising and 

 awareness building. Much good has been accomplished, but it is now time for more sustained and 

 in-depth endiange. 



The aTailablli^ of funding and the attractions of tourism have resulted In flows of 

 people from the Um*ted States faito the FSU and only a trickle In the opposite direction, 

 lliese flows should be better bialanced, and should involve longer stays. 



In a purely technical sense, the FSU is not lacking In resources, skills, or trained and 

 educated work forces. Its greatest shortcoming Is In the institutions needed in a market econoo^. 

 Crafting these institutions is not a problem In technology transfer. It can only be successful if basic 

 organizational structures and legal frameworks are adapted to local and national cultiues. The 

 people who can achieve this adaptation must be intimately fznnhiai with the cultures concerned. 

 This argues for an expanded program of support for students, research workers, and practitioners 

 from the FSU, to enable dien to acquire detailed knowledge of how presently unfamiliar 

 institutions work In a market economy, in this case, in the United States. Stays of at least a year 

 seem warranted. 



An example can be drawn from the discussion above of the need for adi^nations of various 

 fbrnis of leasing and contract farming arrangements in the transition to private farming. These 

 exist in many forms in the United States, ranging for market vegetables In West Coast and Atlantic 

 seaboard states, poultry in Arkansas and the Southeast, canning crops in the Lake States and 

 Northwest, beef cattle In the Southern Great Plains, and much more. 



Similar exanq)les can be found in the variety of financial institutions Invohmd in the 

 production and movement of crops to markets. With the breakdown of former procurement 

 procedures in the P^U, and the decline or dlsapf>earance of central government financing, the 

 development of new financial institutions in crop and livestock production and marketing is urgent 

 There is general agreement that Russia, for example. Is not short of food, in the sense of a food 

 balance sheet It is desperately short of the institutions to fadlitate food storage, processing and 

 distribution. 



Imports of grain and other foods can relieve local or seasonal shortages but they do not 

 permit investment in the institutions needed to build a market -oriented economy. Investment in 



