Background

The United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics entered into an Agreement on Cooperation in the Field of Agriculture on June 19, 1973. The agreement calls for the countries to develop and carry out cooperation on the basis of mutual benefit, equality and reciprocity. The Agreement enumerates ten areas of cooperation as follows:

1. Regular exchange of information, including forward estimates, on production, consumption, demand and trade of major agricultural commodities;

2. Methods of forecasting production, demand and consumption of
major agricultural products, including econometric methods;

3. Plant science, including genetics, breeding, plant protection
and crop production, including production under semi-arid conditions;

4. Livestock and poultry science, including genetics, breeding,
physiology, nutrition, disease protection and large-scale
operations;

5. Soil science, including the theory of movement of water,
gases, salts, and heat in soils;

6. Mechanization of agriculture, including development and
testing of new machinery, equipment and technology, as well as
repair and technical service;

7. Application, storage and transportation of mineral fertilizers
and other agricultural chemicals;

8. Processing, storage and preservation of agricultural
commodities, including formula feed technology;

9. Land reclamation and reclamation engineering, including
development of new equipment, designs and materials; and

10. Use of mathematical methods and electronic computers in agriculture, including mathematical modeling of large-scale agricultural enterprises.

Other areas of cooperation may be added by mutual agreement.

The Agreement specifies that cooperation may take the form of exchange of scientists, bilateral symposia and conferences, exchange of scientific and economic information, planning and development of joint projects and programs, exchange of germplasm and other biological materials, exchange of equipment and scientific instruments and exchange of agricultural expositions.

The Agreement establishes a U.S.-U.S.S.R. Joint Committee which oversees cooperative activities. Within the framework of the Joint Committee, there are a Joint Working Group on Agricultural Economic Research and Information (ERI) and a Joint Working Group on Agricultural Research and Technological Developments (RTD). The Agreement is automatically extended for successive five-year periods, and remains in force unless either party terminates it. The Executive Agency for the United States, is the United States Department of Agriculture, Office of International Cooperation and Development. In the Soviet Union, the original Executive Agency was the Ministry of Agriculture; however, due to a recent reorganization, the current Soviet Executive Agency is GOSAGROPROM, the new super agency which has subsumed the Ministry of Agriculture and six other Ministries.

The U.S.-U.S.S.R. Joint Committee and the Working Groups met regularly from 1973 through 1979 and a program of exchange of teams and information was implemented. In 1980 cooperation was suspended by the United States because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

The June 1985 Joint Committee Meetings

In 1985, at the request of the Administration, the program was restarted.
In June 1985, U.S.-U.S.S.R. Joint Committee and Working Group Meetings were
held in Moscow. A series of protocols was signed calling for exchange of 10
U.S. teams and 9 Soviet teams over the subsequent 18 months.

The agreed program calls for 37 U.S. scientists and specialists to visit the Soviet Union for a total of 642 person days and 33 Soviet scientists and specialists to visit the United States for a total of 512 person days. This is approximately the same size as the program prior to 1979. Team visits are divided between economic and scientific topics. A complete list of agreed team visits is attached. The June 1985 protocols also call for exchange of information and publications.

Current Status of Program

Since June 1985 seven U.S. teams have visited the Soviet Union as follows:

Plant quarantine, including prevention of pests, pathogens, and
noxious weeds and quarantine methods ( 2 persons,

September 16-27, 1985);

Economic aspects of Soviet spring wheat production (3 persons,
August 19 September 6, 1985);

Economic and technical aspects of Soviet cotton production (4 persons
September 18 October 1, 1985);

Animal infectious disease control (2 persons October 1-23, 1986);

State-of-the-art methodology and technology of feed
manufacturing (seminar) (6 persons April 14-28, 1986);

Reforestation methods including tissue culture and forest
germplasm exchange. Integrated methods of forest insect
and disease control (6 persons June 12 -July 1, 1986); and

Economic aspects of winter grain production and use (3 persons
June 18-30, 1986).

Only one Soviet team has visited the United States thus far. This 3-person team studied the contract relationships between U.S. farms, input suppliers, and agricultural processors from May 20-June 3 1986. Delays in implementing Soviet visits have been at the request of GOSAGRO PROM, apparently due to the reorganization and other factors. The reorganization has now been completed, and requests to receive four additional Soviet teams before the end of 1986 have been received.

Cost of Activities

Under financing arrangements agreed at the June 1985 meetings, the U.S. side is responsible for all transportation and in-country costs involved in sending scientists and specialists to the U.S.S.R. The Soviet side pays for their scientists and specialists to visit the United States. Travel and per diem costs for the 37 U.S. scientists covered by the protocol would be approximately $163,000. These costs are borne by the participants' agencies and organizations and not by the USDA Executive Secretariat. Thus far, since June 1985, the 26 U.S. participants' travel costs have amounted to approximately $ 110,000. The average annual administrative costs of maintaining the Executive Secretariat is approximately $60,000. In years when the Joint Committee and Working Groups are held in Moscow, travel costs for the U.S. delegation are added to the Executive Secretariat budget.

Benefits to the United States

The program set out in the June 1985 protocols achieves a balance of U.S. and Soviet interests. The benefits to the United States fall into four basic categories:

The exchange program fosters contacts between U.S. and Soviet agricultural scientists, specialists and officials and creates a positive atmosphere for trade. The program has also increased the USDA cooperators access to the Soviet Union.

- Improved Economic Information

USDA and industry analysts have benefited from economic information gained through team visits to the Soviet Union. First-hand observation and discussions have helped answer basic production and utilization

questions for important commodities. The publications exchange has assisted the National Agricultural Library in enlarging its collection of published information about Soviet agriculture.

- Scientific, Technical and Institutional Knowledge

U.S. team visits to the Soviet Union have increased U.S. scientists and specialists knowledge in several areas. The animal and plant protection and quarantine teams learned about the organization of these functions in a country as large and diverse as the United States. Understanding Soviet quarantine policies and procedures is helpful to U.S. agricultural exporters who wish to ship products to the Soviet Union. The U.S. foresters who visited the Soviet Union were very interested in Soviet research, especially on seedling physiology, an area in which the U.S. is not currently doing extensive research. Information on Soviet research could strengthen the Forest Service research program and eventually improve reforestation programs in the United States.

- Germplasm and Bio-Control Agents

The United States continually needs new germplasm for most of our
important crops, because these crops are not native to our country. The
Soviet Union, particularly the areas near the Southern border, is
potentially a prime source of new germplasm for U.S. agriculture,
particularly for cereals, forages, and some fruits. Germplasm from
cold-hearty tree varieties is also very important for windbreaks to
control erosion and protect crops in the U.S. Northern Plains states.
Likewise the Soviet Union is a potential source of biocontrol agents for
crop and forest pests such as gypsy moths.

Program Evaluation

USDA has implemented a monitoring and evaluation program for cooperative activities of this system to ensure that, as the program progresses, U.S. and Soviet interests and benefits remain in balance. As part of the monitoring and evaluation process, each U.S. team is briefed and debriefed and findings are used in planning future U.S. visits. Soviet requests for specific sites and contacts during their visits are carefully screened. Thus far U.S. team members have reported that, despite logistical problems in preparing for visits, once they arrive in the Soviet Union they are treated well, given access to most sites requested, and have been able to reach their objectives. The Executive Secretariat regularly reports evaluation finding on progress under the Agreement to the U.S. Joint Committee which is chaired by the Under Secretary of International Affairs and Commodity Programs. In general, the program is considered successful and USDA is interested in continuing the program at about the current level of activity.

The Young Agricultural Specialists Exchange

In a separate protocol signed in August 1985 USDA, the National 4-H Council of the United States and the Soviet Ministry of Agriculture agreed to exchange young specialists in agriculture. Under this protocol groups of up to fifteen young agricultural specialists would be exchanged each summer for five years beginning in 1986. Visits would include work experience on farms and practical studies at agricultural universities. In the United States the program is administered by the National 4-H Council with funding from the private sector. In June 1986, the National 4-H Council, in consultation with USDA, decided not to send the U.S. group to the Soviet Union because of safety concerns after the Chernobyl accident. Consultations are currently under way regarding the 1986 visit to the United States by the Soviet young agricultural specialists.

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