—Lancaster Farming. Saturday, May 15,1976 Berks farming conditions By JUDY MITCHELL Berks County correspondent FLEETWOOD “I was just called one day and asked if I could give three weeks of my time to go to Brazil and evaluate agriculture cooperatives there.” Alpbeus Ruth’s tone still carried a sense of the sur prise and disbelief he said he experienced when he got the call. In trying to explain how his trip to Brazil this past March came about, the Fleetwood dairyman, who is also chairman of the board of .Lehigh Dairy Cooperative, was still not quite certain exactly how be came to be considered for the assign ment. His final selection, however, came about after he and one other farmer were interviewed for the job. In response to my ob servation that it was quite an honor to be selected, he modestly acknowledged that it was but added that “it was really a big responsibility that we give these people what they wanted.” He pointed out that the trip cost the Brazilian government a great deal of money just in transportation and ac commodation costs alone. As Ruth understands it, it all began with a request from INCRA, a government agency in Brazil which is complemented by Partners of the Americas in the United States, an agency closely related to the Peace Corps. (Pennsylvania is actually a partner in Bahia in Brazil, but Ruth’s activities covered cooperatives in a much larger area of the South American country.) Brazil, he learned, has many more cooperatives than we do. At one time they numbered as 'v \ Alpheus Ruth, Berks County dairyman who visited Brazil earlier this year on a people-to-people tour many as 3,214, but many have failed for a variety of reasons and the Brazilian government wanted someone from the outside to evaluate them and submit a report making appropriate recommendations. “‘I was not aware that we worked so closely with Brazil myself,” he said, “but we do, and they hold us in very high esteem. Brazilians think that the United States is the greatest country in the world.” “I was only at Partners of the Americas in Washington one time for a briefing,” Ruth said, and from there he went right on to meet his traveling companion Julian Raburn, an associate professor in Business Ad ministration connected with to study Brazilian agriculture, checks over a map of the large South American country. agricultural study at the University of Athens in Georgia. “I guess he was supposed to be the technical representative and I was supposed to be the practical one,” the dairyman quipped. From Georgia, the men flew to Brazil with their first stop in Brasilia for several days of orientation before they began their study tour. The procedure which their travels normally followed was to fly into a major city where they stayed an average of two days, and from there they would travel by government car into the country to visit the cooperatives. “You don’t get a very accurate impression of Brazil from the cities,” Ruth told me, “so it was nice GLICK'S Distributor for ROOFING & SPOUTING BAKED ENAMEL TIN ROOFS Colors: Turquoise, Red, White (only) FULL SERVICE DEALER SALES & INSTALLATION SAMUEL B. CLICK R.D.I, Kinzer, PA Ph. (717) 442-4921 Please call before 7 A.M. or after 6 P.M. No Sunday Calls OUONSET. POL-BAM Ail new STEEL "pole bam" - economical, strong, versatile, attractive. VERNON E. MYER with framed opening for 15 x 24 door Steel Buildings And Gram Storage R.D.4, Lebanon, PA 17042 Phone: (7i?) 867-4139 County farmer describes in Brazil to travel by car and see the countryside.” They were provided with an interpreter, who traveled with them throughout the trip, and their method of travel did allow them to stay at some of the finest hotels in Brazil and see some points of interest in the country. While staying at Recife they were fortunate to get a driver who was a native of the area outside the city and who “just took us every place where there was something to see.” One of the sites they visited was New Jerusalem, where a passion play is held every year around Easter. The Lonq Green Line 1.. Leadership in BUMi product and service, today and tomorrow. 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Oyster Dale Road Oley RD2, PA 215-987-6277 M. S. Yearsley & Sons Westchester 215 696-2990 Agway, Inc. Chapman Equipment Center Chapman, PA 215 398 2553 Neuhaus’es, Inc. Glen Rock, PA 717-235-1306 Bernville, PA 215-488-1510 I. G.’s Ag Sales Silverdale, PA 18962 215-257-5136 Shotzberger’s Equipment Kermit K. Krstler Lynnport, PA 215-298-3270 Elm, PA 717-665-2141 Ruth explained that 150 people are trained for this play and thousands of people attend it every year and “it’s impossible to imagine how they feed them. You would probably have to drive two hours to a modest eating place, but certainly not one that could handle thousands of people.” Although admitting that the trip was an interesting experience, Ruth pointed out that it was not the vacation that some people might think it was. A typical day began at 5:30 a.m. The men would usually cover hun | Continued on Page 69] % Stanley A. Klopp, Inc. 68
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