*V I *UIR ?'?'! 9 v pxi t«Jfr Ag Economist Says Roland Quickly Becoming Free~Market Country ANDY ANDREWS 'SfSSSSSKSSki ■* ricu,ture mMketin 8 tnd «ian- WBSI tnfiMcK (UWtwt ißgmmt In thft framer cnmmnnkt Co.) “Going to Poland in 1990 country 3Tj il ?J! ataB tack £ "Sf chUd ' “Theprojccthas been oneof the hood of 50 yean ago. Nothing was most iucccssfu i ,h tags ** h„ different It was like being able to, evcr been done in Poland since the get in a time capsule and jump breakaway from communism," he back 50 years." said. H. Louis Moore, Penn State pro- Poland has a population of 38 fessor of ag economics, recounted mUlion About 80 a senes of four trips he took during D f me farms, even during com a period of three years to Poland, munistrule, were in private hands. He visited that country as part of a but the average farm size is only special training program in ag about seven acres. The small-scale marketing conducted by the Agen- farms raise only enough to support cy for Intemattcmal Development a f cw bead of livestock, but far in cooperation with Penn Smte and men generate a great deal of veg die governments of U.S. and etables, particularly potatoes ... . (Poland has the world’s third What he found —as part of a largest potato crop). On the small team to analyze the problems cast- faims , equipment used is mostly anEuropcancountries,particular- horse-drawn. Only the state farms ly Poland, have in converting from (numbering about 4,000) and col commumsm toa&ec market eco- icctivc farms (about 2,000) have nomy -was that Poland has peo- any kind of modem mechanized pie willing to work and change, equipment, according to Moore, despite a very old infrastructure, As a result, the economy is very old equipment, and old ways of labor-intensive. Average salary is thinking. about $l5O-$2OO a month (in U.S. But the changes are happening dollars), quickly, according to Moore, who Moore said, however, the pco spoke at the 1993 Chester County pi e grow good crops in Poland. Cooperative Extension annual The teams were impressed with die banquet at die Government Ser- crops, despite a lack of vices Center on Wednesday night mechanization. Moore returned to Poland again The urban areas, except for the in Fcbruaiy of 1991, to the Rzes- tourist centers like Warsaw (the zow Province of southern Poland, at 2 .g million people), are 811 a T ea . th ®? c foUcs polluted and dismal carryovers really had been left out under com- frpm communist rule. Under that miuusm, he said. rule, there was little if any incen- Hc told the group of more than tive to improve. Conditions 125 at the banquet that Poland had remained the same for decades, what they considered “econom- until the advent of satellite TV, istsf” who were no morb than which Moore believes helped accountants. * They had no appre- topple communism, ciation for what supply was, or In the cities, there are TV anten whtt demand Was, or what price nas everywhere. “We saw places **•’ . . _ . . where the TV antennas were so The team stayed in Poland till thick that the pigeons couldn’t fly the following April as part of an among ” said Moore. There's a better way. We can plow through your toughest tax problems. Farm Credit offers 3 types of record-keeping services. And a tax preparation service. Farm Credit. Tax planning, tax strategies, tax preparation. The best way. Call the Agricultural Credit Association near you! Keystone: 1-800-477-9947 Penn West: 1-800-998-5557 Plowing through your records... to prepare your taxes? BVRMCREWF#! Nobody knows the field better. *1 •» w rr prin» * r Northeastern: 1-800-326-9507 York: 1-800-503-8957 Chester County Cooperative Extension honored their banquet Wednesday night. From left, Betty Lou Taws, five years; Becky Scotland; Laurie Sandow; Alan W. Struck, five years. “Under communism, there was no incentive for anyone to do a bet ter job," he said. “In fact, if you went into a store, you... were con sidered an inconvenience rather than something that was going to make you money, because the peo ple weren’t making any more money because you came to buy anything from diem.” But pollution was widespread. “They have a major problem with sewage and other kinds of pollu tion in Poland,” he said. On the streets, all sorts of com modities are now sold, thanks to the conversion to a free-market economy. “As they broke from communism, the first thing that any country gets is bananas. They had no bananas before,” said Moore. “Free enterprise starts right on the streets.” Moore said that as poor as the country is. there are “flower mark ets in every city, almost on every comer, and people stop to buy fit kiNalll flowers to take home with them." The important thing, according to the ag economist, was the vol ume of progress he saw from 1990-1993, which he considers ‘ ‘unbelievable." In that short time, nearly the whole country has been transformed to a free market economy. “It is still going to take a couple of generations, probably, before their living standards become equivalent to what’s in western Europe," said Moore. “I think they’re going to make it." the team went to teach at a tech nical school, and were invited to the students’ homes at the end of their stay. “They actually cried when we left,” he said. “We’d only been there three weeks, but it was like leaving family. It was a touching experience." Also at the banquet, Don Cairns, president of the proposed new 4-H vV" ''v mb Bbowlk giCVE&ffil k. •Sc?' 1 " (717) 733-4973 • 1-800-642-0310 mm* 906 E. Main St., Ephrata m3m M-I-W 10-6; TtvF 10-8, Sat, 10-4 W High E-iouvn \\ u DRASTIC FUEL COST REDUCTIONS WITH THE ATTRACTIVE OUTSIDE WOOD & COAL HEATING SYSTEM , dahl Woodstove No Dirt or Smoke Inside Huge Savings On Fuel Cost a Safe C Pressure System Hot Air or^ Hot Water Compatible Oil or Gas Backup (Optional) SALES & SERVICE Air & 12 Volt Operation (Optional) R & K SERVICES CaM For Free Llterature RD #4 Box 4262 A 215-856-1386 Mohnton, PA 19540 Rod or Kathy Mmluadmf ItalMkHi'lLiMUt? members for-years of service at Lusky, 10 years; Toni Stuetz; Pat Trudy Doughtery, 20 years; and Center, spoke about the contribu tions received for the center, with cash pledges totaling about $200,000. That brings the total donated valoe to more than $350,000. However, to make settlement on November 24, the center is shy about $lO,OOO and needs more pledges in order to make the cen ter, a “dream of more than 20 years,” a reality, according to Cairns. Also, several extension mem bers were honored for years of ser vice. For five years of service, those honored were Judy Fromm, Alan W. Strock, Pat Taws, and Sarah Waliice. For 10 years of ser vice, honored was Betty Lou Lusky. For IS years of service, honored was Anna Mae Hughes. For 20 years of service to exten sion, honored was Trudy Dougherty. s I ' ; Prices Start At s 749°° ■0
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