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Fniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign / College of Agriculture
INTERNATIONAL ANIMAL AGRICULTURE
Proceedings ol a symposium ai Urbana,
Illinois, Fehruan 2~ and 28, 1%9
Arranged and conducted by the Departments of
\nim.il and Dairj Science, University of Illinois
Supported bj the Midwest Universities
Consortium for International Activities
Special Publication 17
University oi Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
( ollege ol Agriculture
July, 1970
CONTENTS
Opening Remarks, G. IV. Salisbury 1
The American Commitment to Economic Development
in Emerging Nations, Erven J. Long 3
The Animal Science Department Looks Overseas,
George H. Axinn 10
The Function of Veterinarians and Animal Husbandmen
in Foreign Animal Agriculture, Rue Jensen 18
The Problems of Direct Participation in Foreign
Assignments, IV. N. Thompson 21
Observations on the Development of an Animal
Science Faculty, W . L. Johnson 35
The Problems of Adjustment to Cultural Differences
for Effective Education, C. C. Sheppard 41
The Graduate Education of Foreign Students in American
Universities for Effective Service to Their Home
Countries, Lee M. Swan 45
Problems of the Returnee in Effective Use
of American Education, /. K. Loosli 52
Education of American Students for Careers in Animal
Agriculture of Less-Developed Countries, H. R. Bird 56
U.S. Agriculturalists and the Emerging Nations,
D. Woods Thomas and Frank A. Fender 62
Effective Use of Local Resources for Thesis Research
in Animal Agriculture, Richard E. Brown 73
Education and Participation: The Latin American
Environment, Jorge de Alba 76
The Wisconsin Experience in the University of
Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, John T. Murdoch 81
Education and Participation in the Reality of the World
As It Is: At Home, R. H. Nelson 87
The Changing Pattern of Involvement Consistent
with Major Goals, Orville G. Bentley 94
Opening Remarks
G. W. Salisbury
The twenty-year experience of American universities in resource
development of emerging nations has had an important impact on the
colleges of agriculture of the land-grant universities. Some of that
experience has been exciting and spectacular: it has added a new
perspective to the home campus, created a new sense of responsibility
among some of the faculty, and brought those colleges into the main-
stream of world affairs.
As this nation re-examines its commitments and its resources for
helping others, it seems appropriate that at least one professional
interest group pause and examine its past performance in international
activities. Has the performance been as good or as useful as some
would have us believe or as poor or as useless as others have said?
Has the experience added something to teaching at home? Has it
been worth the candle? If not, how can our performance and our
learning experience be improved?
The world's food problem is such that, in one sense, we whose con-
cern is domestic animals are not called upon as the first wave of fighters
against hunger. That task falls to the producers of foods from plants
— the specialists in soils, fertilizers, and crops — as well as the econo-
mists and planners. But in another sense, are not all of us who are
teachers and scientists in colleges of agriculture and veterinary medi-
cine really front-line fighters in the war against hunger? Isn't
our task always the development of the most important resource of
all, educated and trained men who have learned to recognize problems
and have learned something about how to solve them? If so, then
perhaps we have a first-line position in dispensing knowledge and
teaching others how to go about getting more of it. If we do this
adequately, then when the need for food from animals has top prior-
ity, the stage will have been set for useful accomplishment.
The animal scientist faces a dilemma in animal resource develop-
ment. It usually takes a lot of input before output is increased. The
crop specialist can introduce the seed of an improved variety and
in one season test and demonstrate some of its capacities for useful-
ness. In the normal course of events, however, development of a
primitive system of livestock-raising into a food-producing system
takes a long time. A great number of trial and error investigations
are needed to adapt systems of management for economical production
G. W. Salisbury is Professor and Head, Department of Dairy Science, Univer-
sity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
2 SALISBURY — OPENING REMARKS
of food from animals in environments where they have never before
been raised. For greatest economy of effort, these investigations ought
to be conducted with the rigor of the best scientific control, but this
has never been done. In the test of a single system of management,
it may be necessary to determine the best system of provisioning feed
for the animals; introduce productive genes into the livestock; identify
and control a heretofore unidentified viral infection; and provide
systems of harvesting, preserving, transporting, and selling the final
product.
Consequently, the large animal specialist on the usual two-year
foreign assignment must leave his contribution primarily in the minds
of his students and in the form of programs. But we are here to dis-
cuss policy, not technique.
This symposium has grown from the 1967 University of Illinois
Centennial Symposium on the Land-Grant University and the World
Food Needs. It is designed to examine some of the questions university
teachers and scientists in the field of food production from livestock
have been asking about U.S. government-university contract involve-
ment in agricultural development in emerging nations, where what
started as short-run emergency operations has taken on the look of
long-run need. Should we involve ourselves even more now or back
off and quit? How does our government view the need for university
involvement in agricultural development overseas? How should we
look at our own function of research and higher education in regard
to the problems of food production of the emerging nations? What
have we learned from our past experience that could save time in a
race with the stork? How can we agree to teach about livestock im-
provement in the tropics, for instance, if we haven't really researched
the problem there? In the face of rising need at home, can we afford
to split forces, maintaining only a holding action at home and running
the risk of the foreign operation's draining most of our available
talent and resources? Must we continue to hide from our own public
the depth of our overseas involvement, isolating ourselves from
political power so that our government and that of the developing nation
can continue to dictate the level of educational service and research
we perform? When do the universities cease being mere employment
agencies for the U.S. government and begin to follow their own designs
instead? When shall we take the initiative to do the task of research
and education as well as we know how ?
To help us raise even other questions and to provide a basis for
judgment about the answers, we have invited a distinguished group of
men to devote themselves to these issues at this symposium. The first
of these is Dr. Erven Long of the Agency for International Develop-
ment.
The American Commitment to Economic
Development in Emerging Nations
Erven J. Long
Webster's defines "commitment" as "an agreement or pledge, to
do something in the future ; especially to assume a future financial
obligation." In this sense, I feel that there is no firm American com-
mitment to foreign aid at this time.
I say this not critically, but to emphasize the fact that these are
times when the public and its elected officials are giving thought to
all matters which commit our country and its resources to future
courses of action. The commitment to the Marshall Plan for restoring
Europe was firm and solid; the commitment to technical assistance in
the early days of the Point IV program — and perhaps the commit-
ment to foreign economic aid about eight years ago — was broadly
based and substantial. At the present, however, the public mood is
to reconsider, to analyze, to ponder, to evaluate. In the long run, it
is to the interest of our country that the public think through what
the U.S. interests are and what the character of our international
affairs should be. What are our responsibilities to ourselves and to
other countries? How should those responsibilities be defined and
conceived? Inadequate public understanding cannot result in the
kind of perservering attention and support that an effective foreign
assistance enterprise requires.
It is my intention only to make some personal comments on some
of the issues with which Americans are concerning themselves, hoping
to stimulate some thought and discussion among you here today.
I should first like to make a general point regarding the cost of
U.S. foreign assistance efforts. The price tag of our foreign assistance
efforts is not an easy one to read. It can be built up to look very large
indeed or reduced to a much smaller figure, depending upon what one
includes and excludes. The inclusion of military-related foreign as-
sistance is one example ; Food for Peace is another. For this reason
I shall not quote figures but shall try to give you an impression of
magnitude and of what has happened to what I consider to be the
relevant types of aid — the types genuinely concerned with assisting
the development of emerging countries — and exclude types primarily
attributable to other U.S. interests.
Erven J. Long is Director of Research and Institutional Grants for the Agency
for International Development, Washington, D.C. Views expressed in this paper
are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Agency for International
Development.
4 LONG — THE AMERICAN COMMITMENT TO EMERGING NATIONS
Roughly speaking, assistance in dollars to the less developed coun-
tries has fallen to about one-half the high mark of 1962. This is an
understatement of the decline of foreign aid levels because, as we
know all too well, the purchasing power of the dollar has fallen off
sharply due to steady inflation. In terms of constant dollars, our aid
levels have been reduced to perhaps 40 percent of what they were
seven or eight years ago. As a percent of national income, the decline
has been even greater.
From another perspective, the foreign assistance program is con-
cerned with creating the kind of a world in which our expectations
about future security can be realized ; therefore, it is properly con-
ceived as one component of the total American effort on behalf of our
national security. Again, by my own definitions of what should ap-
propriately be included as economic assistance, about one-fiftieth of
our investment in national security activities is in the form of foreign
development assistance.
These figures do not include our food assistance under PL 480.
We cannot discuss this point at length here. Although food assistance
often contributes importantly to a less developed country, this is not
always the case, and it is in no sense comparable with dollar assistance.
Whatever its merits or demerits, PL 480 must be assessed primarily
as a support program for U.S. agriculture rather than as foreign aid.
Similarly, our military assistance must be judged primarily against
our military objectives rather than as assistance to countries for pur-
poses of their own economic development. In summary, it is important
to keep our foreign aid expenditures in perspective: As a barometer of
the American commitment to development of the emerging nations, they
have been falling rapidly and are in danger of reaching a totally in-
effective level soon unless we achieve a much better public under-
standing of and a deeper commitment to foreign assistance than at
present.
What, then, are the issues that are preoccupying the American public
and its leaders? The erosion of support for foreign aid is generally
caused by the increasing pressure for other uses for public funds,
combined with a general sense of frustration over the fact that foreign
aid has not resolved problems as simply or as quickly as people may
have expected.
There is undoubtedly considerable concern over the effectiveness of
aid as an instrument for creating conditions of national security. The
foreign aid program has been conceived of as a means by which the
American people could influence the development of other countries
in such a way that they and we could live in greater peace and harmony.
Quite naturally, this has resulted in a built-in expectation that, as
our foreign aid proceeds and countries become more developed, our
LONG — THE AMERICAN COMMITMENT TO EMERGING NATIONS 5
relations with them should improve steadily and our security interests
advance. Personally, I have a great deal of faith in the basic validity of
this premise. But it is very often subject to misinterpretation, to over-
anticipation, and to evaluation in terms of the wrong objectives.
Although, in the long run, foreign aid is a substitute for military
processes as a means for achieving our general security interests in
given countries, it is wrong to expect its results to take the same form.
Economic development assistance cannot in itself build fences against
external invasion of an emerging nation. It may eventually do more
than military processes to keep lands and peoples in the free world,
but its processes are long-term, subtle, and often indirect.
More significantly, I believe it wrong to assume that economic de-
velopment alone necessarily predisposes a developing country toward
congeniality with the United States. Evidence is often cited, for ex-
ample, that the poorer a country, the greater the likelihood it will un-
dergo internal disorders, riots, revolutions, governmental overthrow,
and so on. Since it is proper to assume that our security interests are
best served by a stable world order, it follows that to help countries
up the ladder of development is to help make them more stable and
our relations with them more secure and more rewarding.
Unfortunately, this is only part of the picture. The wars and other
serious international problems we have had in the last 50 years have
not been with extremely poor but with relatively advanced countries.
Germany, Japan, and the Soviet Union were not little, impoverished
countries, but countries experiencing the fruits of substantial develop-
ment — with the resulting capability to do us real damage in military
confrontation.
Moreover, development itself can be an extremely disorganizing
process. Old structures crumble and new ones arise in their places.
Large segments of society which never considered themselves a part
of anything beyond their own immediate communities suddenly find
themselves immersed in great movements with national purpose.
, Greatly expanded communication enables ideas to sweep societies much
more rapidly — both ideas which stabilize and those which destabilize.
So there is nothing about development which either automatically
I assures political stability within a given country or necessarily orients
j that country toward a happy set of political attitudes or relationships
• with the United States.
I recognize that this sounds as if I am talking against U.S. interest
' in development assistance. This is not true.
If it is wrong, or at least naive, to assume that economic develop-
1 ment in any sense necessarily and automatically assures better political
! relationships with the United States, it is even worse to hope for stable,
' peaceful relations with nations that are deprived of opportunities
6 LONG — THE AMERICAN COMMITMENT TO EMERGING NATIONS
for self-development. The onward rush of modern science and tech-
nology has seeded the winds of change with a new element — the
certain knowledge in the richer and poorer countries alike that the
capability for self-sustaining development is achievable for all so-
cieties that will exert the necessary effort and self-discipline.
Scientific and technological resources have ignited local explosions
in agricultural production for citizens of the emerging countries to
witness at first hand. The radically increased yields of the new varieties
of wheat, rice, corn, and sorghums have demonstrated to the poorer
countries the new achievements possible when the powers of scientific
research are directed to their needs. These same scientific and techno-
logical forces have dramatized the ephemeral quality of national bound-
aries as observed from the perspective of a lunar orbit. Most impor-
tantly, the processes of communication have been accelerated so that all
nations come to share in the knowledge of what is possible — and all
peoples demand that the possible be made operative in their own lives.
The question, therefore, is not whether economic development
of the emerging nations should take place, or how fast, or whether we
should assist them. These questions have no alternative answers. The
real questions are concerned with how development takes place within
these countries ; what kinds of economic, political, and social institutions
are created ; how broadly based is the economic and political partici-
pation of the general public; in short, what kind of society is created
by the process of development? This is what constitutes our long-term
security interests in the development of emerging nations.
It is important that we recognize that the objectives guiding the
movements of national development are themselves largely defined
as they unfold. The nature of these objectives, and the kinds of
institutions which are created to achieve them, deeply and funda-
mentally determine the character of the country which emerges. Just
as the processes of childhood shape the character of the adult, so is
the eventual character of a mature nation determined by its early
developmental processes. In our own history, the impact of our fron-
tier and of our agricultural origins influenced for generations the
character not only of our countryside but also our cities. The charac-
ter of our institutions and government and, in a profound sense, our
very people has been influenced by the institutions we brought over
from Europe, the processes by which we extricated ourselves from
colonial rule, and the types of schools and local governments we have.
This is even truer in the less developed countries because they are
changing so much more rapidly than did we.
To the extent that it is intelligent and effective, our participation
in building the institutions, shaping the policies, and developing the
human resources of the developing country helps shape the basic
LONG — THE AMERICAN COMMITMENT TO EMERGING NATIONS 7
character of that country, thus charting that country's relationship
to our own. We should recognize that this is a two-way relationship:
Our participation in their institutional development should give us
fresh perspective on our own history, and involvement in their problems
should help us understand ours.
We should not be surprised if this process of foreign assistance
takes time, for like any other instrument of policy and diplomacy,
it is not always immediately successful. Especially we should recognize,
as I said earlier, that it is not only the rate but also the form of de-
velopment of the emerging countries, not only the level but also the na-
ture of our assistance, which most profoundly affects our ultimate
security interests.
All this leads inevitably to the conclusion that foreign aid —
especially technical assistance — must become a basic, long-term instru-
ment of U.S. public purpose. In his book Witness for AID, Judge
Frank M. Coffin, former Congressman and former Deputy Administra-
tor of AID, eloquently phrases this proposition:
In an era of restraint in the use of arms, aid will increasingly become a
principal instrument of policy. Military forces are no longer the chess-
men of international affairs. Words alone are hollow. Aid has emerged
on the modern scene as an inevitable instrument serving the policy of
great and not so great powers. We may dispute this fact. The Com-
munist countries do not.
I should like to comment on the forms of aid necessary to best
serve the future needs of both the developing countries and our own.
This will require a brief analytical digression.
In my opinion, the root cause of underdevelopment is pervasive
technical inefficiency. The agricultural sectors of the less developed
countries are, virtually without exception, extremely inefficient and
hence incapable of making their essential contribution to general eco-
nomic growth. Typically, this technical inefficiency pervades all pro-
cesses: technical production, administrative and governmental, insti-
tutional and educational. This pervasive inefficiency results primarily
from the historic failure, or inability, of these countries to invest
in the research and development activities necessary to create effective
processes for the conversion of resources and effort into desired out-
put results. Where this is true, obviously the possibilities of closing
the gap between the advanced and less advanced countries through
simple transfer of resources or capital are quite limited. Rather, we
must give incisive attention to means of improving these technical
inefficiencies.
The ultimate outcome of economic assistance efforts will turn
primarily on the world's ability to harness the potential powers of
science and technology to the needs of the less developed countries,
8 LONG — THE AMERICAN COMMITMENT TO EMERGING NATIONS
and to provide the capital and other support for their effective utiliza-
tion in those countries. For we are unquestionably entering a period
of technological revolution — a revolution which at long last may be
brought to serve the account of the less developed nations.
Recent scientific advances promise to alter substantially the param-
eters of economic development of the emerging nations. As virus
research eliminated the scourge of polio, so agricultural research
promises to eliminate the scourges of starvation and malnutrition.
The high yield varieties of the major cereals are proving the point, inso-
far as solving caloric deficiencies is concerned. Similarly, improve-
ment of protein content through genetic manipulation is promising to
solve the principal nutritional deficiency of the poor-diet countries.
Non-conventional sources of animal feeds, combining inorganic nitro-
gen with inexpensive sources of carbohydrates and cellulose, are merely
awaiting additional adaptive research to reduce vastly the cost of
ruminant livestock production in the tropical countries.
Later on, perhaps, changing the basic growth capabilities of plants
may permit food production from irrigation with sea water; new ap-
proaches to pest control, possibly through establishment of lethal
genetic traits, await scientific exploration. An AID research project
with the University of Illinois may provide a malaria vaccine to
supplement or replace present costly methods of malaria-vector mos-
quito control.
But a foreign assistance effort designed to bring the powers of
science and technology to bear on the economy-wide inefficiencies
characteristic of the emerging nations will require substantial shifts
in emphasis. During the decades immediately ahead foreign assistance
will require massive technical, technological, managerial, and adminis-
trative improvements in these host countries. It will require that
we place much more emphasis than heretofore upon programs of
scientific cooperation, research, education, other institutional building,
and human resource development. It will require much stronger, two-
way bridges between the less developed countries and our own to carry
the necessary traffic for scholarship, research, scientists, and students.
The goal is the evolving of a great expanding web of research and edu-
cation, which will incorporate into the entire free world the rapid
on-rush of modern science, technology, and knowledge.
And now a prediction. In spite of the grim realities of decreasing
budgetary support for foreign assistance, I believe that American
scientists and highly trained professional people will be working
meaningfully in developing countries for at least the rest of the century.
For, unless we work energetically to prevent it, the economic gap
between the advanced and less advanced countries will continue to
LONG — THE AMERICAN COMMITMENT TO EMERGING NATIONS 9
widen for at least that long, and it will continue to be essential to our
national interests that such a trend be reversed.
The levels of resource transfers — at least as a proportion of our
national income — may not greatly improve. But our aid may well
shift into substantially more effective forms, from food and other
consumables, possibly even from capital subsidization, toward scientific
and educational programs which will involve more, rather than fewer,
American scientists and professionals.
In the end, of course, it will all depend upon the public asssess-
ment and understanding of the possibilities and awareness of the alter-
natives. No greater responsibility or privilege could be afforded any
group than to participate — as you have chosen to do — in that assess-
ment.
The Animal Science Department
Looks Overseas
George H. Axinn
America's basic self-interest in world development stems from
the brutal fact that there can be no sanctuary for the rich in a world
of the starving." Those are words spoken by Richard Nixon a year be-
fore his election as our national president (l). 1
As the panel on world food supply put it in the report of the
President's Science Advisory Committee in May of 1967, 'The stark
misery of hunger, the ravages of malnutrition, the threats of civil strife,
social unrest, and political upheaval posed by food shortages, and the
shadow cast by impending famine have all been portrayed in urgent
and compelling terms. The need for the United States, other developed
nations, international agencies, and voluntary institutions to help
the hungry nations has been pointed out time after time" {2, p. 3).
For professional personnel in the university departments which
deal with the animal industry, the need is more than one of humani-
tarian assistance to the peoples of emerging nations. There is a parallel
and interrelated need for internationalization which is associated with
professional survival.
Our students come from all over the world. Our graduates work
all over the world. There can be no professional excellence in animal
husbandry, in veterinary medicine, in the animal industry — or in nutri-
tion, genetics, physiology, livestock or poultry management, or mar-
keting — if these disciplines lack international dimensions.
Let us look first at the world situation and world needs and then
at the universities and their role.
The old cold war split of the world into two camps has lost its
meaning for foreign assistance. Both we and the Communists have
discovered painfully that the bulk of the world's people have been
much more resistant to our influence and much less subject to our
control than we had expected. The emergence of a compatible and
a congenial environment in a more and more interdependent world of
increasingly modernized states should now become our goal.
We can assume that governments, particularly in the developing
nations, will change from time to time and will not always be to our
liking. In spite of these changes, the people of such nations will con-
1 Numbers in parentheses refer to references listed at the end of the article.
George H. Axinn is Professor of Agriculture and Assistant Dean, International
Programs for Overseas Operations, Institute of International Agriculture, Michi-
gan State University, East Lansing.
10
AXINN — THE ANIMAL SCIENCE DEPARTMENT LOOKS OVERSEAS 11
tinue to have problems of technological, economic, and social develop-
ment.
By the year 2000 there will be four times as many people in the de-
veloping countries as in the developed nations. As the panel to which
I referred a moment ago recently reported, "the scale, severity, and
duration of the world food problem are so great that a massive, long-
range, and innovative effort, unprecedented in human history will
be required to master it" (2, p. 11).
While our domestic concern is appropriately consumed with racial
conflict, urban decay, and critical poverty here, the rediscovery of our
national character has established the direction by which we shall over-
come. But the larger international manifestation of the same root
problems remains before us. The most coercive fact of our age is that
the poor people of the world have learned that poverty is not inevitable !
Our commitment as a nation should be to assist the disadvantaged
peoples in their desire to enter the modern world. To be effective this
commitment to human development should be sustained and continuous,
as independent of the intermittent shifts in government-to-government
relationships as possible. Although we are not going to remake the
entire world, we can contribute to its betterment.
Such sustained commitment to global human development is not
only sound in terms of those being assisted, but it also brings together
our long-term security interest, our economic interests, our cultural
and social interests, and our deep and historical moral concerns with
the welfare of common men everywhere. It is in the interest of the
United States to see Latin America, Asia, and Africa enter the
modern world, not only because of the resulting demand for trade and
our immediate prosperity, but also because of the kind of neighbors
who will be sharing this world with our children.
Further and more significantly, such an articulation of policy would
transcend the current confusion of national purpose and permit us
to come to grips realistically with the contemporary meaning of our
fundamental national tenets that "all men are created equal" and
that the appropriate American way to approach the world is with
"malice toward none and with charity for all."
Thus our realistic concern with U.S. national interests converges
with our moral and humanitarian concern with poverty. It is time we
abandon both our legislative "scare tactics" of international involvements
designed to keep us ahead of the Russians, and our short-term, self-
interested practices of dumping agricultural commodities abroad to
bolster prices at home and of providing soft loans to strengthen demand
for our industrial products abroad. Instead, we need to substitute
programs guided by the long-range policy of making this world a better
place for our children and our grandchildren to live in.
12 AXINN — THE ANIMAL SCIENCE DEPARTMENT LOOKS OVERSEAS
Have we learned from experience?
What can the land-grant universities and in particular the depart-
ments concerned with animal industry do about all of this? In a nut-
shell, we can help fulfill the demands of the hungry people of this
world for higher quality food — particularly higher quality protein —
at a lower cost. That may be only part of the total world problem,
but no other part is more significant.
As Dr. Glenn W. Salisbury said at the Symposium on the Land-
Grant University and World Food Needs here at the University of
Illinois in October of 1967, "What the developing countries will need
is no less than what the United States has needed all along — a basic
core of teachers and researchers dedicated to the production of educated,
industry-oriented practitioners and experts. These people in turn would
be engaged in elimination of disease in better-bred, more efficient
livestock from which high-quality foods can be harvested, processed,
and marketed for the human population" (3).
We and our colleagues have been moving about the world during
the last two decades trying to assist in this effort. With much trial
and some error we are beginning to understand what needs to be done
in terms of the world's food supply and the rest of international de-
velopmental assistance as well.
For example, we have learned that Americans simply do not have
the "know-how" to make two blades of grass grow where one grew
before — at any given spot on the globe. Our technology is not
sufficiently general to make it fruitful for us to send extension people
abroad merely as transmitters of what is already known here. This was
a difficult lesson for us to learn. The myth that American technicians
and professors had the know-how to solve all the world's problems
misled us. Instead of beginning with rigorous scholarly research on
economic development, on institution building, and on the complexities
of technical assistance, the academic community journeyed overseas
as seasoned practitioners.
One result was a good deal of frustration.
We also went overseas trying to duplicate our own USDA/land-
grant college system of agricultural education, research, and extension.
For the most part the people who were sent understood only the artifacts
of this system, rather than its essence, and thus ran aground largely
on the morass of cultural variation, failing miserably in the total exer-
cise.
The best animal breeder in the world — if he didn't know the local
language ; if he were unaware of local customs, norms, and taboos ;
if he didn't understand which channels of communication were open
to him and which were closed; and if he were attached to an institu-
AXINN — THE ANIMAL SCIENCE DEPARTMENT LOOKS OVERSEAS 13
tion whose functions were not seen by its indigenous members at all
the way he saw them — would be doomed to failure in spite of his
own professional excellence, dedication to the task, and willingness
to give himself to it entirely.
But just as we have learned to build better automobiles, airplanes,
radios, and highways, making those of the 1940's obsolete, so are we
learning to improve our developmental assistance operations. We are
learning how to put together programs which will have greater impact,
more long-run effectiveness, and perhaps even lower costs. Our suc-
cesses and our failures deserve thorough study ; the results should guide
our planning for the future.
Al Moseman of the Agricultural Development Council put his finger
on the problem in a recent paper: "A major deficiency in the past co-
operative efforts has been the omission of the ultimate objective of
building the indigenous institutionalized science capability into a
national, self-sustaining system. The special challenge — and one of
increasing urgency — is to associate the technical assistance resources
available to a developing nation as separate specialized projects into a
coordinated effort to establish such a national research system" (4).
Dr. F. F. Hill of the Ford Foundation, speaking in November of
1966, suggested that a number of carefully selected agricultural colleges
and rural universities in developing countries and an equal number
of U.S. land-grant colleges be asked to make joint institutional
commitments to mount sharply focused, long-term research programs
designed to substantially improve the production technology of im-
portant food crops. He went on to say that the need, as he saw it,
"is for carefully planned, sharply focused, production-oriented research
programs that are adequately staffed, adequately financed and continued
for sufficiently long periods of time to produce significant results" (5).
The Task Force of the National Association of State Universities
and Land-Grant Colleges, in a recent statement on international devel-
opmental assistance, listed many lessons we have learned (6). First
among these was that the full development of a country requires a
multiplicity of institutions — political, economic, and social. Further,
human resource development is the most critical need throughout the
world. The Task Force acknowledged that an ample food supply is
essential to stability in economic and political development, but went
on to suggest that the most effective and enduring contribution to human
resource development is the building of indigenous educational insti-
tutions which will enable a nation to help itself by educating its own
people to enter and sustain themselves in the modern world. The
building of enduring institutions is a long-term proposition and is
fundamental to success of our developmental assistance policy.
14 AXINN — THE ANIMAL SCIENCE DEPARTMENT LOOKS OVERSEAS
They also said that the best continuing sources of competent and
experienced professional personnel to carry out many programs of
institution building abroad are the American universities and colleges
— the very departments represented here today.
Their plea was, "The full range of analytic and research resources
(public and private; domestic and foreign) should be mobilized in
order to improve understanding, for each overseas area, of the bio-
logical and physical resources, and the economic, social, political, and
psychological forces at work ; the critical obstacles to effective modern-
ization; and the alternative ways that outside human and financial
resources can be brought to bear in helping the host country to deal
with those obstacles." They said there is a critical need for a limited
number of high quality research and training centers in developing
countries to concentrate on food and population problems that are
significant on a regional or international basis. Through such centers
the best scientific and technical resources of the developed world would
be focused on these problems.
Plans for the future
And this is where the university community comes in. The universi-
ties and colleges of the United States, after two decades of partnership
with the U.S. government and private foundations in the worldwide
work of international developmental assistance, have moved from a
period of great expectations but minimal skill and competence to the
beginnings of sophistication. Twenty years of this university experience
abroad has resulted in the emergence of a major new resource to this
nation. My former colleague, Glen Taggart, calls it "a critical mass of
manpower competence in international education" (7). It developed
as a natural byproduct and has produced a readiness for exciting
encounter and considered commitment to the new world community
of scholarship. It has also begun to qualify America's teachers to
provide our sons and daughters with a more adequate preparation to
cope with the international problems they will face in ever enlarging
proportions.
Moreover, modern scholarship is less than excellent when bound
by its own culture. As Dr. Irwin Sanders of Education and World
Affairs wrote recently, "National boundaries are becoming increasingly
irrelevant to the practice of most professions. In the future — perhaps
25 to 30 years from now [Sanders says; I would say it has started
already, and will take much less time] —it will be just as normal
for a professional person to take on foreign assignments (which will
no longer be called foreign) and clients as it is today to concentrate on
domestic practice.
AXINN — THE ANIMAL SCIENCE DEPARTMENT LOOKS OVERSEAS 15
"When this occurs, the professional person will be prepared to rec-
ognize and deal with cultural differences in the same way that they
now deal with individual differences. If successful in domestic prac-
tice, the professional treats no two clients exactly alike. The same
will hold true in international practice, but it comes about only if one
knows something about the backgrounds from which the clients come.
"Furthermore, there will be a heightened sense of supernational
colleagueship. Already the professional person in a developing country
is able to maintain a sense of identity and self-respect in the face of
low standards of living and culture by reminding himself that he is
not merely a member of a backward nation but he is also a member
of a worldwide profession for which he holds the proper credentials.
International exchanges, largely related to much less expensive air
travel, will bring about an ever increasing scale not only of the exchange
of published materials, but also* the opportunity for face-to- face contact
among those interested in similar professional problems, though based
at widely different spots on this shrinking planet" (8).
Experience has demonstrated that the quality of what university
personnel are able to do overseas in development assistance programs
tends to be related directly to the quality, the commitment, and the conti-
nuity of related international education thrusts on the home campus.
However, the interaction between university personnel involved
in developmental assistance abroad and their colleagues associated
with the area centers and similar home campus activity has been ex-
tremely weak. Rather than support each other and exchange enrich-
ment, these two groups tend to avoid communication. To improve
this situation and to support top quality in what American university
personnel can do abroad, here are ten suggestions. Many of them
stem directly from the work of the recent CIC-AID research project
on building agricultural institutions which was led by Dr. Ira Baldwin
of the University of Wisconsin (9).
First, there should be a provision for exploration in depth by teams
of university personnel and the development of appropriate long-range
strategy before a university commits itself to participation. This
strategy should be acceptable to the host country, relevant to the U.S.
universities' academic program, and consistent with the program of
the funding agency.
Second, vigorous, searching, and continuous recruitment and
selection of only the most competent personnel for overseas develop-
ment assistance assignments is critical. As Richard Wood (10) says
on the role of universities in AID-financed technical assistance over-
seas, "related to and towering over all other factors in importance are
the people who are entrusted with the task of carrying out the project."
16 AXINN — THE ANIMAL SCIENCE DEPARTMENT LOOKS OVERSEAS
Third, along with adequate recruitment and selection, personnel
should have appropriate preparation for each particular overseas
assignment.
Fourth, there should be provision for continued research that is
relevant to the overseas assignment, as well as to the career interests of
the individual scholar, both while he is overseas and after he returns
to the home campus.
Fifth, there should be provision for graduate students to accompany
senior scholars to overseas locations where the students can collect data
for their theses.
Sixth, arrangements should be made for selected overseas experience
to be incorporated into the curriculum and the appropriate course
syllabuses.
Seventh, programs should be designed with a long enough commit-
ment that departments may staff themselves to cover responsibilities
both at home and abroad. This means that the one- and two-year con-
tracts have no place. The ten-year grant or the non-terminal project
agreement must replace the contract as funding documents.
Eighth, there should be provision for frequent personal involvement
at overseas sites by appropriate department heads and deans.
Ninth, professional persons such as ourselves should see to it
that people from our departments who serve abroad can remain in
the mainstream of their professions, continuing to contribute to their
fields technically while away on assignment, so they can thereby move
quickly back into a productive role at home when they return.
Tenth, and finally, continuity of progress in rank and salary during
intermittent periods of absence from the home campus should be at
least as rapid as for less adventuresome colleagues who stay at home.
Goals to aim for
A long-range goal for the nation and its universities is a dynamic
global interaction among scholars, interrelating educational programs
around the world. Overseas universities will be the peers of U.S.
universities, fully able to prepare the manpower their respective states
require for developing their potentials and doing the research necessary
to keep up with the demands for modern agriculture, expanded industry,
improved health facilities, and other changes. Reciprocally, the aca-
demic process at home will develop a generation of U.S. graduates
excellently prepared to cope with the world-wide problems which they
will face.
The linkage between any two institutions in this worldwide network
could be characterized by any of a wide range of relationships: a
partnership of two professors, one in each location; an individual who
builds his career with intermittent assignments at each; department-
AXINN — THE ANIMAL SCIENCE DEPARTMENT LOOKS OVERSEAS 17
to-department associations ; involvement as part of a consortium of
several institutions at one or both ends ; library exchanges ; student
exchanges; graduate student research base operations; exchanges of
research data or specimens ; and many other possibilities.
One aspiration for the worldwide community of higher education
is that it will transcend the fluctuating periods of better and worse
relationships among any two nation states, flourishing in periods of
good will and cooperation yet surviving periods of malice and animosity.
Thus will it serve as an international force toward understanding,
harmony, and trust.
References
1. Nixon, Richard M., Address to the National Convocation on "World Hunger"
conducted by the National Industrial Conference Board, September 12, 1967,
in New York City.
2. The World Food Problem, a Report of the President's Advisory Committee,
Vol. 1, Report of the Panel on the World Food Supply, the White House,
May, 1967.
3. Salisbury, G. W., "Can the Animal Agriculture Teachers and Scientists of
the American Land-Grant Universities Really Contribute to World Food
Needs?" in Animal Production and World Food Needs, University of Illinois
Special Publication 12, March, 1968; p. 49.
4. Moseman, A. H., "Building Agricultural Research Systems in the Developing
Nations," a paper prepared in the Agricultural Development Council, Inc.,
New York City.
5. Hill, F. F., "U.S. Land-Grant Colleges and World Food Crisis: A Suggested
Program of Action," talk presented before the Division of Agriculture, Na-
tional Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, Washing-
ton, D.C., November 15, 1966.
6. International Developmental Assistance, a Statement by the Task Force on In-
ternational Developmental Assistance and International Education, National
Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, Washington, D.C.,
January, 1969.
7. Taggart, Glen L., "International Affairs on the Crisis in International Edu-
cation," Seventh Annual Grady Grammage Memorial Lecture, Arizona State
University, February 15, 1968.
8. Sanders, Irwin T., Professional Education for World Responsibility, Oc-
casional Paper No. 7, Education and World Affairs, New York, New York,
August, 1968 ; pp. 27-28.
9. Building Institutions to Serve Agriculture, A Summary Report of the CIC-
AID Rural Development Research Project, Committee on Institutional
Cooperation, Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana, 1968.
10. Wood, Richard H., US. Universities: Their Role in AID-Financed Tech-
nical Assistance Overseas, Education and World Affairs, New York, New
York, April, 1968 ; p. 77.
The Function of Veterinarians
and Animal Husbandmen
in Foreign Animal Agriculture
Rue Jensen
The respective functions of animal husbandmen and veterinarians
are separate but complementary. Veterinarians depend on animal
husbandmen for actual improvement of livestock through breeding and
feeding management. Without these improvements, animal agriculture
would have low productivity, and the need for veterinarians would
be negligible. On the other hand, animal husbandmen depend on
veterinarians to protect the health and to aid in the survival of im-
proved livestock. Without such protection, animal numbers could be
decimated and animal productivity impaired.
In the United States, most agriculturists fully understand these
respective functions of animal husbandmen and veterinarians in de-
veloping animal agriculture. Outside this country, however, the dis-
tinctions between the two fields may not be clearly discerned. This is
exemplified at the University of East Africa, University College,
Nairobi, Kenya, where Colorado State University has a contract to
help develop teaching and research competence in a Faculty of Veteri-
nary Science. The University College is also receiving help from the
veterinary faculties of the University of Glasgow, Scotland, and Justus
Liebig University, Giessen, Germany. Many of the European veteri-
narians believe that an extensive curriculum with all necessary facilities
in animal husbandry should be developed within the Faculty of
Veterinary Science. To me, this attitude indicates a failure to realize
that the animal husbandry profession and the veterinary medical pro-
fession each has dimensions of such size that no one person can master
all aspects or become expert in both.
What should be the tasks of animal scientists working at foreign
universities? Collectively, their functions are two-fold: to help the
recipient country improve animal agriculture and to help the foreign
educators develop sufficient educational and technical skills to assure
continuation of the new activities after the Americans leave. To add
assurance and permanence to the AID program, most contracts join an
American university with a foreign university or with a Ministry of
Agriculture in the recipient country. American animal production
specialists and veterinarians work directly with the local personnel. The
man-to-man association facilitates acceptance of the proposed changes
Rue Jensen is Vice President for Research and Director of Experiment Station,
Colorado State University, Fort Collins.
18
JENSEN — FUNCTION OF VETERINARIANS AND ANIMAL HUSBANDMEN 19
in traditional practices. In some cases, unfortunately, counterpart
personnel either are not available or have deficient skills and infor-
mation. The need for changes in agriculture as practiced in the recipi-
ent country and the need for changes in instruction in its universities
often parallel each other.
In general, animal husbandmen overseas work to develop animal
agriculture, relate it to other phases of agriculture, and adapt it to
the entire economy of the country. Their specific activities are to
work with their counterpart personnel in five important ways:
1. To determine the potentials of animal agriculture in a country
and region. Frequently, this study is done when the feasibility survey
of the project is made and before the US/AID contract is completed.
The study should determine specific species, breeds, and numbers of
livestock and poultry, and indicate the location and size of the markets
for products.
2. To improve the genetic make-up of livestock types used in the
project by selective breeding of the country's breeds or by introducing
superior foreign breeds.
3. To correct nutritional deficiencies of livestock and poultry
by introducing balanced but economical rations.
4. To establish correct management practices in caring for animals
and in keeping records.
5. To develop modern training for animal husbandry at the country
university. Agricultural training in the country university may be
obsolete or even absent. In either case, a new curriculum is needed,
and it must be made attractive to country students.
Fulfillment of a foreign assignment in animal husbandry may
require several years, even for established professionals. Breeding
improvements are slow and expensive. The acceptance of new manage-
ment practices in the industry requires adult education and demonstra-
tion. A new curriculum can be planned in only a few months, but its
acceptance is gradual and the training of students slow. In many con-
tracts five to ten years are required to initiate a new curriculum,
train a limited number of faculty personnel, and see several classes
of students through four years of education.
Let us now consider the equally important role of the veterinarian.
The primary functions of veterinarians in the animal agriculture of
the developing country are to help counterpart individuals create an
environment amenable to livestock improvement and profitable produc-
tion, and to help develop productive and healthy cattle, poultry, and
other animals. To achieve this, veterinarians must determine specific
livestock diseases of the country and region, control serious endemic
diseases, and develop modern country or regional universities for
training local veterinarians.
20 JENSEN — FUNCTION OF VETERINARIANS AND ANIMAL HUSBANDMEN
Most developing countries with potential for animal agriculture
have had surveys for determining the existing animal diseases. Some
accurate information is then already available about the identification
and incidence of major acute infectious diseases, such as foot-and-
mouth disease and rinderpest. Parasitosis, nutritional deficiencies,
and toxicities, however, frequently may have been either neglected
in the surveys or unknown as to occurrence or incidence. Accurate sta-
tistics on diseases are necessary for developing programs of disease
control.
Control of major infectious diseases is also necessary for the de-
velopment of animal agriculture in any country. Maladies such as
foot-and-mouth disease, rinderpest, African swine fever, African horse
sickness, lumpy skin disease, East Coast fever, piroplasmosis, and
fowl plague cause episodes of high mortality and incapacitation, de-
terring development of any livestock industry. Methods of control vary
with circumstances: Some diseases are eliminated or reduced by identi-
fying and slaughtering infected animals, others by artificial immuni-
zation with vaccines, and still others by destruction of vectors.
Regardless of the method employed, the cost is high and the decision-
making task of the veterinarians is crucial.
The protection of livestock against disease is a continuing task
that requires vigilance against reintroduction of previously known and
controlled diseases and research against newly recognized or inade-
quately controlled diseases. Fulfillment of these functions requires
a reliable supply of competent veterinarians trained in the country
university.
As a solution to the combined problem of high educational costs
and relatively low numerical demands, one country university may
train veterinarians for an entire region of several countries. For
example, at the present time the University of East Africa, University
College, Nairobi, is being considered as a reasonable training center
for veterinarians from several countries adjacent to Kenya. The eco-
nomic and educational advantages are real, and they may be achieved if
enough energy, skill, and money can be assembled to solve the problems.
The Problems of Direct Participation
in Foreign Assignments
W. N. Thompson
Trankly, I am reluctant to concentrate on "problems." I have learned
that it is a rare individual who wants to hear an elaboration of the prob-
lems associated with his area of interest. It is much more satisfying
to hear someone accentuate the positive. One who focuses on problems
runs the risk of being labeled "pessimistic," "impatient," or if a foreign
assignment returnee, "bitter."
My remarks are made from the perspective of a two-year assign-
ment as team leader on the University of Illinois AID contract project
in Sierra Leone and the more recent experience of three years as
Illinois leader for the CIC-AID Rural Development Research Project. 1
This project was a study of efforts of 35 U.S. universities on 68 agricul-
tural AID contract projects in 39 countries from 1951 to 1966. The
University of Illinois part of the study was primarily to assess the
impacts of agricultural AID contract involvement on U.S. universities
and to develop guidelines for improvements in organization and imple-
mentation of such projects. Data were obtained from university
project files, mailed questionnaires, and interviews. 2
The University of Illinois project report (5) was described by
one of my animal science colleagues as "a devastating comment written
1 The CIC-AID Rural Development Research Project, completed June 30,
1968, was supported in large part by the Agency for International Development
through a research contract with Purdue Research Foundation. The project was
sponsored by the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, with the following
universities as active participants : University of Illinois, Indiana University,
University of Minnesota, University of Missouri, North Carolina State Univer-
sity, Ohio State University, Purdue University, Utah State University, and the
University of Wisconsin. For a summary of the project, results, recommenda-
tions, and publications, see (1).
2 Questionnaires were received from 598 university contract team members
and team leaders who had returned from overseas service, 315 wives who had ac-
companied them, 336 colleagues of those who had served overseas, and 141 de-
partment heads. Animal scientists (including those in veterinary medicine) among
the respondents were: returned team members and leaders, 103; colleagues, 60;
and department heads, 31. Returned staff members, department heads, and college
of agriculture and university administrators were interviewed on 32 university
campuses. Fifty-four AID Washington personnel completed questionnaires, and
44 were interviewed.
W. N. Thompson is Professor of Farm Management and Policy, Department of
Agricultural Economics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Leader,
CIC-AID Rural Development Research Project.
21
22 THOMPSON — THE PROBLEMS OF DIRECT PARTICIPATION
in tranquil words." A commentator who had read both the Illinois
project report and another CIC-AID paper (3) remarked, "... I
can't help but feel that they learned much more than they have told
us so far. Maybe we need another session to find out how it really
was" (2). With my previously mentioned background, I welcome
this new opportunity to concentrate on the problems in this type of
work and to tell you "how it really was."
One can find strong views within the university community on the
question of university participation in AID contract programs. The
views of an animal scientist serve as an example (4):
It is unfortunate that US/AID programs, at least in their interaction
with universities, have been so politically and performance-oriented and
never deliberately academic and exploratory. One suspects here the dis-
proportionate influence on the Congress of the. ubiquitous USDA, which
is oriented toward direct performance, production research, and law en-
forcement, rather than education-oriented. The effect has been to
hamper, if not completely handcuff, the capabilities of University men
employed in US/AID projects. The land-grant universities have been
reduced largely to the role of employment agencies for government (the
personnel sought were their own people in a time of explosive local de-
mand for educators). The professors engaged for AID projects are
reduced to "show and tell" technicians on foreign assignments.
It is not unusual to hear such views. Some are so critical of AID
contract project involvement of U.S. universities that they virtually
"write off" participation in such projects as having potential for uni-
versities. It should be clear at the outset that I am not to be counted
among that group. Nevertheless, the following assessment of general
effectiveness of universities in AID contract projects should make it
obvious that there are opportunities for improvement. Research ana-
lysts on the CIC-AID Rural Development Research Project who had
visited overseas projects and U.S. university campuses made admittedly
subjective ratings based, however, on several criteria.
One must interpret the judgments expressed in these data with
varying qualifications. One-third of the "poor" overseas projects were
initiated during 1954-1955 when AID encouraged rapid expansion of
university contract projects. Seven of the 30 "fair" and "poor" over-
seas projects were terminated before they had been underway for as
long as five years. A number of the projects were confronted with
difficulties in the host country beyond the control of the U.S. govern-
ment or university. The home campus ratings — my main concern —
of the 32 U.S. universities studied were fully as variable as the overseas
ratings, with two-thirds of the universities rated as "fair" or "poor."
Regardless of our views regarding university participation on AID
contract- type agricultural projects, it must be recognized that this is
THOMPSON — THE PROBLEMS OF DIRECT PARTICIPATION 23
Table 7 — Ratings of Overseas Project Progress or Success and U.S. Uni-
versity Campus Effectiveness*
Rating b
Overseas U.S. uni-
projects versifies
Outstanding (4.5 to 5.0) 8 5
Excellent (3.5 to 4.4) 7 2
Good (2.5 to 3.4) 6 4
Fair (1.5 to 2.4) 10 8
Poor (less than 1.5) 20 V3
Total 51 32
a Ratings for overseas projects were made by overseas research analysts based on the following
criteria: (1) completion of project objectives or progress attained; (2) general performance of the con-
tract team; (3) team leader and team member attitude, effectiveness, and team strategy; (4) U.S. uni-
versity commitment to the project; and (5) U.S. university backstopping. U.S. university campus ratings
were made by project research analysts based upon: (a) U.S. university commitment to overseas
projects; (b) campus administration performance; and (c) feedback from experience under contract proj-
ects. Ratings were made only if analysts had visited the overseas project or U.S. university.
b Ratings were made on a letter scale ranging from A to C; they were converted to a numerical
scale of 5 to zero.
Source: Thompson, et a/. (5, p. 165).
the means through which we have gained a substantial amount of ex-
perience in the less developed countries. Realistically, future involve-
ment of universities in international work is contingent upon financing
by and cooperative programs with the federal government.
We are still operating from a narrow base of international experi-
ence. The average annual man-power input into 63 agricultural AID
contracts has been less than seven persons, with about two of the seven
being recruited from non-university sources. Even when some uni-
versities have had more than one contract project, the personnel in-
volved has been a small proportion of the total agricultural man-power
resources of U.S. universities. At the same time, experience accumu-
lated over the past 17 or 18 years ought to be sufficient to generate the
potential for increasing U.S. university effectiveness in international
work. There is thus justification for the criticism that we are not
making adequate use of the experiences that we have had.
Problems
Because it is difficult to classify the many problems of university
participation in international development work, particularly for a short
paper, I have chosen to lump the problems into seven categories: the
history of participation, conflicts with ongoing activities, lack of pro-
fessional status of international work, disruption of careers, education
for international service, administrative problems, and obscurity of
goals and lack of commitment.
The history of participation. Our experiences present a legacy of
problems as we try to draw on these experiences for lessons leading
24
THOMPSON — THE PROBLEMS OF DIRECT PARTICIPATION
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to improvement. For the most part, universities have been reacting
to the needs of the federal government for assistance in international
development. Many faculty members complain that universities are in
the position of reacting to external stimuli. At the same time, few
faculty members are devoting attention to building programs that are
meaningful from the university point of view.
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terests of a limited number of administrators and faculty members who
felt the need for international service. There was inadequate participa-
tion of faculty members in the decision to initiate projects. This has
led to personal involvement of a limited number of university personnel
without strong institutional commitment. Some of these attitudes are
still with us, so faculty members and department administrators are
prone to assume that future programs must be similar to past and cur-
rent ones. Moreover, when a project proves less than highly successful,
AID is often criticized either in Washington or in a foreign country,
without taking a careful look at the university and its performance.
University participation in technical assistance too often gets labeled
as just another foreign aid program. The point is that it is difficult to
break away from the images, impressions, and attitudes that have been
developed over the past two decades. How can we learn from the ex-
periences of the past, sort the favorable experiences from the unfavor-
able, work at correcting deficiencies, and move ahead with the pressing
challenges that face agriculturists on domestic and international fronts
in a future of fading geographic distinctions?
Conflicts with ongoing activities. Despite the numerous problems in
foreign assistance programs, there is a strong consensus among ad-
ministrators and faculty members of colleges of agriculture that their
colleges should be involved in international technical assistance. Re-
turnees from foreign assignments, their colleagues, and department
heads were asked to express opinions and attitudes on a number of
statements in terms of their agreement or disagreement. To the state-
ment, "With present world conditions, international technical assistance
needs to be a definite part of our department's program," some 85 per-
cent of all groups were in agreement. It was interesting to note, how-
ever, that the animal science colleagues, most of whom have not had
international experience, had a lower degree of agreement with this
statement than their department heads, fellow animal scientists with
international experience, and other disciplines. About one out of five
of the animal science colleagues disagreed with the statement.
While there is agreement with the general idea of including inter-
national work in the program of agricultural departments, one gets a
somewhat different view from the response to the statement, "With all
the demands upon our staff, our department would be better off if we
26
THOMPSON — THE PROBLEMS OF DIRECT PARTICIPATION
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5) Purdu e University, is developing a formal six-
TuT.aI T int f rnatlonal agriculture and the development process, which will
include a four-week travel-study program in Latin America
68 THOMAS AND FENDER — U.S. AGRICULTURALISTS
The third condition is more controversial; we submit, however,
that it is crucial to the adequate preparation of young U.S. scientists
for international careers. A meaningful professional experience in
nondomestic agriculture should be an integral part of the graduate
program. To attempt to prepare young agricultural scholars for inter-
national careers without such participation would seem to negate all
that experience has taught us about effective education. Here two
vehicles are worthy of consideration: a professional internship as
a staff member of an indigenous institution in a developing nation at,
say, the post-M.S. level, or an appropriately supervised Ph.D. disserta-
tion research experience in a developing nation. Anyone can, of course,
raise a host of reasons why such endeavors are neither feasible nor
desirable. The point is, both have been tried and both have proved
effective (25).
One point remains to be made. Even the best formal education
at the undergraduate and graduate levels will not guarantee a pro-
ductive agricultural practitioner, scientist, or scholar on the international
front any more than it will on the domestic front. Also required is the
opportunity for well-prepared young people to mature as profes-
sionals in the environment of the emerging nations. It is the experience
gained from continuous professional involvement with the problems
of these nations that will bring dividends to the educational invest-
ments made.
Some variant of the type of educational program suggested above
will produce the cadre of U.S. agriculturalists necessary for the ful-
filling of our national scientific, professional, and moral responsibilities
to the rest of the world. As educators, we face in our respective fields
of expertise the job of fashioning programs which will yield this result.
The barriers
Next, let us examine briefly two broad categories of barriers hin-
dering implementation of the ideas presented above. One concerns
our views and our positions as U.S. educators relative to the nature
and scope of our responsibilities. The other is more pragmatic.
The first of these categories includes the difficult questions that all
of us concerned with agricultural education in the United States must
face. We must examine our values and beliefs about training US.
people for international careers. We must seek objective and candid
answers to several questions. To what degree have we really recognized
and responded to the increasing need for U.S. agriculturalists trained
specifically for high-level performance in international and foreign agri-
culture? Are there currently available in our colleges of agriculture
the types of educational opportunities that will permit bright young
U.S.' scientists to prepare themselves systematically for productive
THOMAS AND FENDER — U.S. AGRICULTURALISTS 69
and interesting employment in world agriculture? Do we have the
courage to carefully examine the current relevance of the role we
have traditionally accepted for our agricultural colleges? If relevance
is lacking, do we have the commitment, determination, imagination
and resources to redefine this role in ways that will make our colleges
more capable of responding to the present ever-changing needs of world
agriculture ?
These are difficult questions; they are easily avoided or put off
for future consideration. We submit, however, that they are pertinent
questions that must be examined in depth — and answered — before
progress will be made.
One of the more pragmatic issues is the availability of financial
and other resources needed to develop the kind of comprehensive
educational endeavor we have suggested. The financial issue turns
squarely on the structure of the agricultural education and research
institutions of the United States. We do not have a "national" system
of universities responsible for education and research in the agricul-
tural sciences. Rather, we have state-supported institutions whose
broad-based professional and scientific responsibilities are conditioned
by specific state and regional divisions of labor. This organizational
structure has been one of the great strengths of our educational and
research system as it has traditionally related to U.S. agriculture
Without substantive modification, however, it is not particularly well
adapted to effectively servicing the problems of world agriculture.
Given such an arrangement, we must examine with care alternative
means of providing resources for the type of educational program pro-
posed. Clearly, certain aspects of this program would appear to con-
stitute perfectly legitimate uses of funds from existing sources. If
the development of an appropriate group of courses treating matters
relating to non-domestic agriculture is essential to the redefined edu-
cational responsibilities of our colleges, there would seem to be no
reason why regular university resources should not be allocated for
these purposes. Considerable precedent for this may be found in
the non-agricultural schools and departments of our universities.
Just as important as allocating university resources for courses on
non-domestic agriculture is the need for enough research to create
a base of knowledge for quality presentation of these courses The
use of university resources for this purpose is as legitimate as their
use for any of the other educational missions of the university
Equally, the search for new knowledge in the agricultural sciences
is not bounded by arbitrary political boundaries of states and nations.
Uur universities would seem to have not only the rationale, but also
the responsibility, to support such a quest wherever the particular
laboratory" or source of data might be.
70 THOMAS AND FENDER— U.S. AGRICULTURALISTS
At the same time, it is most doubtful that traditional sources of
funding for agricultural education and research will be adequate to meet
the magnitude of the challenge confronting us. This fact of life must
be faced, not only by the universities and faculties, but also by the
public policy makers of this nation. It is apparent that there is no
alternative to substantive federal financing if the full weight of the
scientific and educational competence embodied in our schools of
agriculture is to be brought to bear on the development of agriculture
around the world. Long-term financing of a magnitude and form that
will permit continuous individual and institutional involvement in
the international arena must be provided.
Thus on the resource side of this issue there are two problems.
The first consists of difficult decisions to reallocate resources from
traditional uses to uses which will permit our schools of agriculture
to be the most productive in the modern world. The second is that of
systematically creating an institutional framework between the federal
government and the schools of agriculture capable of providing the
resources needed to make our professors, scientists, and scholars
productive members of a world community of agricultural research
and education.
There is another barrier to the development of comprehensive inter-
national education and research programs in our schools of agriculture:
institutional imperfections. Effective international education and re-
search programs require collaboration with foreign institutions, a
supply of colleagues abroad, collaborative research endeavors, and
appropriate associations with international development agencies and
programs of work. Our missions of the past have been such that insti-
tutional arrangements like this have not evolved to the degree that they
must. The foreign involvement of U.S. schools of agriculture during
the past two decades has made important inroads toward the removal
of institutional imperfections, but only the initial steps have been
taken. We must work diligently for the creation of a worldwide
institutional network of agricultural research and educational insti-
tutions which will permit maximum productivity of such capabilities
wherever they exist.
Finally, our schools of agriculture may still lack adequate profes-
sional staff who, through firsthand involvement and experience in in-
ternational agriculture, possess the basic understanding and knowledge
necessary for the development of educational programs of the type and
excellence described in this paper. Yet our schools are far better off in
this respect today than they were a decade ago. We do find among
our agricultural faculties a great number of highly competent agricul-
tural educators and scientists who have benefited from meaningful ex-
periences of relatively long duration in agricultural development work
THOAAAS AND FENDER — U.S. AGRICULTURALISTS 71
abroad. These people constitute a most valuable resource; we would
be remiss if we did not draw heavily upon their unique knowledge and
understanding.
Our schools of agriculture are at a crossroads. They may accept the
challenge to contribute to international agriculture in the same tradition
that has made them great in the past. If they do, we submit that they
will make as great and as lasting a contribution to worldwide develop-
ment, prosperity, and peace as they continue to make to our own society.
If they neglect the challenge, then the prospects of mankind's attain-
ing its universal goals will be greatly diminished. This nation simply
cannot afford to pay the price of abdication by the institutions holding
the greatest and potentially most productive scientific capabilities in the
world.
References
1. Thompson, Kenneth W., "The National Interest and Responsibility of the
United States in Relation to World Food Needs," in Alternatives for Bal-
ancing World Food Production Needs, Iowa State University Center for
Agricultural and Economic Development, 1967.
2. "Growth Abroad Spells Bigger U.S. Farm Markets," Foreign Agriculture,
Foreign Agricultural Service, United States Department of Agriculture, July
8, 1968.
3. Hardin, Charles M., Food and Fiber in the Nation's Politics, Vol. Ill, Sec.
II, Technical Papers, National Advisory Commission on Food and Fiber, U.S.
Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., August 1967.
4. Rockefeller, David, "The Case for Foreign Aid," Address at Council on
Foreign Relations, Chicago, April 18, 1967.
5. Hardin, Lowell S., "Potential Growth Areas in Agricultural Economics,"
Journal of Farm Economics, Vol. 45, No. 5, December 1963, pp. 946-951.
6. Thomas, D. Woods, "The Role of the U.S. University in International Edu-
cation and Research," Journal of Dairy Science, Vol. 51, No. 2, 1968.
7. Bell, David E., "U.S. Domestic and Foreign Policies and World Food Needs,"
The Land-Grant University and World Food Needs, University of Illinois
College of Agriculture Special Publication 13, 1968.
8. Model, Leo, "The Politics of Private Foreign Investment," Foreign Affairs
Quarterly, July 1967.
9. Bruck, Nicholas K. and Francis A. Lees, "Foreign Content of U.S. Corporate
Activities," Financial Analysts Journal, Sept. -Oct. 1966.
10. "States Take a Stab at Salesmanship," Business Week, February 18, 1967.
11. "Charting New Seas for U.S. Capital," Business Week, April 8, 1967.
12. "Old Bank's Young Men Swing Overseas," Business Week, October 12, 1968.
13. The great interest of U.S. business in international opportunities is presented
in issues of International Commerce, a weekly publication of the U.S. De-
partment of Commerce. Of special interest is the January 13, 1969, issue on
the world trade outlook.
14. Loomis, Ralph A., "Why Overseas Technical Assistance is Ineffective,"
American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Vol. 50, No. 5, December 1968.
72 THOMAS AND FENDER — U.S. AGRICULTURALISTS
15. International Developmental Assistance, A Statement by the Task Force on
International Developmental Assistance and International Education, Na-
tional Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, Wash-
ington, D.C., January 1969.
16. Building Institutions to Serve Agriculture, A Summary Report of the CIC-
AID Rural Development Research Project, Committee on Institutional
Cooperation, Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana, 1968, pp. 222-223.
17. USDA employment figures provided by Joyce Resler, Personnel Division
of USDA.
18. Education and World Affairs, The Professional School and World Affairs:
Report of the Task Force on Agriculture and Engineering. University of
New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1967.
19. Refer to recent annual reports of the Ford, Kellogg, and Rockefeller Founda-
tions.
20. Education and World Affairs, The University Looks Abroad, Walker &
Co., New York, 1965.
21. The University and World Affairs, Report of the Committee on University
and World Affairs, J. L. Morrill, Chairman, The Ford Foundation, New
York, 1960, especially pp. 23-25.
22 Caldwell, Oliver J., "Search for Relevance in Higher Education," Inter-
national' Education and Cultural Exchange, Winter, 1969, U.S. Advisory
Commission on International Educational and Cultural Affairs.
23 McCormack, William, "New Directions in Study Abroad: Opportunities
for Students in the Professional Schools," Journal of Higher Education,
Vol. 37, October 1966.
24 Dickerson, R. B., "Undergraduate and Graduate Education of American
Students Interested in Preparing for a Career in International Educa-
tional Development Work," The Agricultural Development Council, 196o.
(mimeo).
25. Purdue Fellows in Latin America — Annual Report to the Ford Foundation,
International Programs in Agriculture, Purdue University, July 1968.
Other programs include: Cornell University, Graduate School of Business
and Public Administration Latin American Internship Program in Busi-
ness and Public Affairs; Syracuse University, Maxwell Center for the
Study of Overseas Operations, Africa-Asia Public Service Fellowship
Program; The University of New Mexico, Internships in Latin American
Education; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, The MIT Fellows in
Africa Program; AID Internship positions in developing nations; The
Foreign Area Fellowship Program, Special Awards for Latin America
and the Caribbean. In addition, Cornell University, Purdue University,
and The University of North Carolina are now offering to selected Ph.D.
candidates research associate positions which provide overseas opportunities
for dissertation research.
Effective Use of Local Resources for
Thesis Research in Animal Agriculture
Richard E. Brown
I he inefficiency of supplying calories and protein to humans in the
form of animal products as compared to plant products is well docu-
mented — so much so, in fact, that some economists have written off
animal agriculture as a significant contributor to the nutritional needs of
the rapidly expanding population. The fact is, however, that all the
resources of land, oceans, and technology must be tapped to fulfill the
projected nutritional requirements. In some geographical areas the
soil type, topography, climate, and available human potentials are un-
suited for commercial crop production and can be best utilized in ani-
mal production. As animal scientists we are obligated to realistically
evaluate the resources of an area before encouraging the development
of animal industry.
University students have clearly expressed their concern over the
major social problems of our day. In American universities most of
this concern has been with domestic issues even though in the long run
these issues may be relatively less important than the torrent of prob-
lems that will result from the increasing population pressures in other
segments of the human family. Nevertheless, the agricultural colleges
are beginning to feel the pressure from students with interests in agri-
cultural development in various less-developed countries.
It is not surprising that most of these students have had firsthand
insights into world problems through service in the Peace Corps or
International Volunteer Services. It has been through providing a
meaningful educational program for one such student that we became
involved in finding effective ways to use local resources for thesis re-
search in animal agriculture.
Our student had had four years' experience in teaching vocational
agriculture in Laos before embarking on his Ph.D. program. He was
dedicated to agricultural development work in Southeast Asia. Since
none of our AID contracts are located in the area of his interest, we
were faced with having to decide whether to send him to another
school with appropriate contracts or to establish an arrangement with
another institution or institutions by which he could conduct thesis
research. We chose the latter course.
Library research confirmed our student's idea that the resources and
economic status of northeast Thailand were well suited to a livestock
Richard E. Brown is Professor of Nutrition, Department of Dairy Science,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
73
74 BROWN — EFFECTIVE USE OF LOCAL RESOURCES
industry, particularly beef production by cattle and buffalo. With the
support of the Office of International Agricultural Programs of the
University of Illinois, the student and I visited Thailand to define a
significant problem in livestock production to serve as the subject of
the thesis research and to make arrangements for facilities where the
research could be conducted. Before our departure for Thailand we
contacted the University of Kentucky, which has a contract to assist
in the development of an agricultural experiment station in northeast
Thailand. We also contacted the AID Mission in Bangkok, the Agri-
cultural Attache in the Embassy, the Department of Livestock De-
velopment in the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Animal Science
Department at Kasetsart University. We hoped to arrange interviews
with anyone who had been involved in animal production research in
Thailand so that they could assist us in identifying significant prob-
lems. Our preliminary correspondence was not encouraging, but we
proceeded with our planned survey nevertheless.
From the moment of our arrival in Bangkok we were given every
possible assistance, even though we were only a couple of itinerant
scholars in search of a problem, unattached to any formalized program
in research or development. Through the good offices of Dr. R. E.
Patterson of US/AID, Bangkok, we were met at the plane and later
introduced to the Thai Director of Livestock Development, Dr. Chakr.
Dr. Chakr arranged for us to visit six of the nine livestock stations in
Thailand to talk with research personnel there and to acquaint our-
selves with research in progress.
Included in the tour was a visit to the Northeast Agricultural Re-
search Center where a University of Kentucky team was working with
Thai counterparts. Nearby was the recently established Khon Kaen
University with a young inexperienced staff in the College of Agri-
culture. The Dean of the College of Agriculture at Khon Kaen had
received a Ph.D. in Animal Nutrition at the University of Illinois. He
was very much interested in our project and immediately offered to
provide headquarters for our studies. The staff at the Northeast Agri-
cultural Center also offered their assistance and the use of facilities
there. Thus the second objective of our survey trip was accomplished.
The selection of a significant problem for thesis research proved to
be more difficult than we had anticipated. We found that research at
the livestock stations consisted of keeping weight records on generally
well-managed herds. The production inputs in terms of confined
grazing of improved pastures and preservation of forage for feeding
during the dry period were indeed effective but economically impractical
from the standpoint of the average villager. There was a complete lack
of data of productivity of buffalo and cattle under village conditions.
No information was available on such important production parameters
BROWN — EFFECTIVE USE OF LOCAL RESOURCES 75
as calfhood mortality, calving intervals, and growth rate. This kind
of information was essential for identifying significant areas for further
research, so we decided to direct our efforts toward collecting data on
the village level. Such research is not sophisticated in the sense of em-
ploying complex instrumentation ; nevertheless, it is difficult research,
requiring the cooperation of villagers who are unable to comprehend
the potential value of completely valid data. We hope that as a sec-
ondary benefit of this project, the Thai staff at Khon Kaen University
will have an increased appreciation of the problems of village producers
and of how science can be used to solve real problems.
The project is now underway with a graduate student on the scene.
The Midwest Universities Consortium for International Activities has
provided a fellowship for the graduate student, and the Southeast Asia
Development Advisory Group has provided research and travel funds.
No doubt unforeseen difficulties will arise during the course of the study.
Hopefully, however, these problems will be solved in a satisfactory
fashion, and we will learn to increase our capability for providing
realistic educational programs for future students.
Education and Participation:
The Latin American Environment
Jorge de Alba
Our times have been characterized by a great dynamism of ideas, an
effervescence within institutions, and movements of people, materials,
and goods. There is also a strong commitment to the avowed purpose
of bettering the lot of mankind. To a great extent, such idealism —
the conviction that "mankind" really means people of all denomina-
tions, races, and creeds — is new in man's history. Our animal hus-
bandry fraternity has not been immune to the times and has participated
in the movement of technical aid.
We of the underdeveloped world have had our share of the rise and
fall of hopes and enthusiasm. As a participant from the other side of
the fence, I hope to provide a touch of reality to this symposium. In
particular, let me suggest that the man who intends to dedicate some
or all of his life to foreign aid must tone down his innocent optimism
about being an apostle of quick change. He should abandon the idea
that everyone he meets abroad is going to greet his innovations with
open arms. In point of fact, experience has taught us that many of
those ideas are truly impractical. Also, and I say this very sadly, such
a man must take into account the fact that inasmuch as some of his
ideas mean displacing the status quo, he will be actively opposed by the
minorities in power. They, in an environment of poorly distributed
wealth, are opposed to all innovations. Stated in another way, this
means that although many people are ready and anxious for change, the
channels by which an outsider can make contact with the real people
— not the governments — are difficult and tortuous to navigate.
Trained personnel greatest need
In all honesty I must report that the impetus for change has fallen
short. Despite various approaches and techniques, the most fatal flaw
has not been overcome: the lack of trained personnel.
This should come as no surprise — it is typical of our age, a tech-
nological era in which the fruit of the most brilliant and altruistic ideas
is shackled by the need for an appropriate and complete technological
development. Animal husbandry is no exception ; it can progress only
as far and as fast as the quality of the technicians allows.
As the methods of bringing about development are improved and
their shor tcomings reduced, I firmly believe that the personnel crisis
Jorge de Alba is former Director, Turrialba Experiment Station, Costa Rica;
Founding President, Associacion Latin Americana de Produccion Animal, Mexico
City, Mexico.
76
DE ALBA — THE LATIN AMERICAN ENVIRONMENT 77
will become more acute. I have recently witnessed the failure of well
meant attempts to bring about a substantial change in productivity
through agencies of supervised farm credit. That program offered far
more tangible features than any of the previous attempts at foreign aid.
It was in many respects free of the drawbacks that come with un-
adapted ideas and personalities, since all that was brought from the
outside was money. Yet it has been a more or less qualified failure.
After examining the program in detail, I came to the conclusion that it
could not possibly have been otherwise. This is not a statement of
complacency; rather, it is an honest statement of fact made with the
intention of getting at the roots of the problem.
The credit program had no other source of personnel to be its di-
rectors, project leaders, or field men than the men traditionally trained
by the country to fill mediocre bureaucratic posts. The program de-
manded a new philosophy of reliance on technical knowledge instead of
the hunches of politicians. But the men available had no faith in scien-
tific criteria ; indeed, these men, from the very way they had gained their
positions, were convinced that lip service to science was all that was
required of them. With such a background they could not possibly fill
the requirements for the new job.
Present animal husbandry teaching in Latin America out of touch
Most of the schools of agriculture in Latin America began late
in the 19th century or early in the 20th. The strongest influences were
French, Belgian, Italian, and to a lesser extent, German and Spanish.
This is true of both veterinary medicine and animal husbandry.
In those early years, the European teachers were not part of any
foreign aid program. Most of them came to Latin America to stay for
the rest of their lives. Their influence was deep, and their dedication
to the job at hand was very commendable. But several unfortunate cir-
cumstances counterbalanced those good points. First of all, most of the
teachers came from countries that gave little solid grounding in the
field of animal science. Secondly, the difficulties and costs of com-
munication with their countries of origin limited the spread of new
ideas and techniques. Third, there was a lack of local funds for experi-
mentation. Consequently, those early teachers came to teach what they
had been taught in Europe and hardly anything else.
The resulting education system, lacking any pragmatic urge to
solve existing problems in our countries, fell on a society in which the
job of tilling the soil had traditionally been a lowly one, devoid of social
prestige. In most countries with large native populations, most of the
agricultural problems were solved by hand labor, or if the labor supply
was insufficient, by the accumulation of large acreages by the privileged
classes. In either case those in agricultural power created defenses
against the inefficiencies of their production methods.
78 DE ALBA — THE LATIN AMERICAN ENVIRONMENT
This experience in the use of land, just or unjust, taught the land-
owner many things — not, however, for the development of agricultural
education or the spread of better methods. Instead, the successful land-
owners sent their children to study in the cities or overseas in such fields
as medicine or law. This helped limit the feedback of practical ex-
perience (the landowners') to the agricultural and veterinary colleges.
There were exceptions, of course, but not very numerous or important.
Thus up to 1950 the teaching of animal science in Latin America
was largely academic, old-fashioned, and divorced from the urgent
field problems at hand. Specifically such teaching was characterized by
an excessive reliance on lectures, unchanged from year to year; very
little use of laboratory practice; very little use of library assignments
with not much library to make use of ; and stereotyped curricula with
little flexibility and often absolutely no electives.
Effects of foreign aid minimized
Actually, the present situation has not changed much since 1950.
But some new factors have entered the picture. Foreign aid has been
added More young men have been trained in the United States, En-
gland, Australia, and France. There have been attempts to update cur-
ricula open new colleges with more modern ideas and orientation, and
establish post-graduate studies. The effervescence of our times is evi-
denced by these goings-on, but the actual results at this time are not yet
particularly encouraging. ^ .
To begin with, the mediocre agricultural scientists trained under
the mediocre agricultural programs of the past fifty years are still with
us With the help of political friends and the passage of time, they have
reached important positions of decision-making, and they are scarcely
anxious for any changes that will end their jobs and their incompetent
procedures They will of course pass away eventually, but their hold
on the present is so strong that I feel it is a menace to the younger
generation — who are finding it easy to conform to the old pattern.
Once a young man is settled in a rewarding livelihood, his role as an
innovator becomes dimmed.
Short-term assignments not effective
One can cite notable achievements as the result of foreign aid, par-
ticularly on the part of foundations and programs for specific crops.
Yet even the most successful projects have not touched the core of the
problem. The philosophy of teaching agriculture has not changed, and
this is the most urgent prerequisite for real progress.
If we emphasize that traditional animal husbandry teaching has been
divorced from the local problems and has not been balanced by the
results of local practice, then it becomes obvious that toreign aid ad-
ministered through short-term assignments is inadequate to produce
DE ALBA — THE LATIN AMERICAN ENVIRONMENT 79
change — and in terms of animal production, anything less than 15
years is short-term. The innovator from abroad arrives with diplomatic
privileges and salaries. He uses a large amount of aid to move himself
and his household; he spends much of his salary on foreign goods to
be shipped back to his home country. Obviously, he does not become
integrated into the social and economic fabric of the host country. If
the locally trained man who could not converse with the men of his own
back country was inadequate, there is not much hope that the short-
term man with not even the language in his favor can make much of a
contribution. The old European teachers who came at the first of the
century stayed for good and became citizens of the new country. Their
old-fashioned techniques took hold largely because the teachers were
not foreigners anymore. Even with their shortcomings, they created a
new institution at far less expense than the present programs.
I firmly believe that, if a thorough and deep examination of the
nature of present failures can be candidly brought to light, these short-
comings may be overcome. First of all, the advanced countries must
come to realize that no country has a surplus of brains. It is obvious
that a fairly capable technician performs a creditable job largely because
he is upheld by the methods and experiences of the institution where
he works and by the true intellectual leaders of the institution. But
transport him to an environment where the very nature of the institu-
tion is in question, and where he must become his own intellectual
leader, and you will find that he will nearly always fail. The fact is,
the true original leaders in this or any other developed country are
rarely available for assignment abroad.
A primary requisite for success is the complete abandonment of
the policy of short-term assignments. Not only should men with better
training be sent on assignment, but they should be willing to live a
substantial part of their lives in the country of their adoption. Their
transfer should be as complete as is legally possible, with salaries paid
in local currencies, under the management of local institutions. Excep-
tions should involve only visits and contacts so that the men do not
become isolated.
Good teachers must be developed
Several new techniques should be tried and appraised. If, as we
believe, good institutions are built by outstanding and technically
competent men, it is obvious that some countries lack the supply of
trained men necessary to revolutionize old institutions. Emphasis should
be shifted from helping the inept institution to helping the apt indi-
vidual. Some of the most promising men in our countries live a
smothered life for lack of the most essential equipment and funds with
which to advance their knowledge. For them, monetary aid is far
more flexible and adaptable than the transfer of people.
80 DE ALBA — THE LATIN AMERICAN ENVIRONMENT
The job of finding talented men is a delicate one. Youth and a
degree from abroad are no guarantee that one has originality or even
intelligence. What one may have been able to accomplish with limited
means should point out who deserves a chance to do more work. Often
all that is needed is transportation from the teaching post to the experi-
mental stations in order to gather the research material that will im-
prove the teaching.
At some universities the time is ripe for establishing grants for
professorships or chairs. This method has been used successfully in
Europe and the United States, yet it has never been tried as a tool of
foreign aid.
My proposal of emphasizing help to individuals is not a crash pro-
gram, nor is it expensive. It emphasizes helping those who can teach
others and who can thus "multiply the good seed." Young men with
new outlooks and a stirring in their minds will eventually reshape their
institutions and bring about wider and more important changes. That
is a job no outsider can do for them. If the process seems slow, that
is all the more reason to start it soon.
Encourage capable host-country institutions
Just as I proposed aiding deserving individuals, so do I also think
that promising institutions should be assisted. Such an institution may
be a small branch of a larger organization, or perhaps an institution
that is not in the good graces of the government. Finding these bits of
hope in their jungle-like environment is no easy task — the foreign aid
official must be thoroughly familiar with the country he intends to help
and able to read a lot of small print (and between the lines) — but it
is a necessary one.
In opposition to this, I see the dangerous procedure of creating full-
fledged experiment stations or other institutions fully staffed by non-
citizens of the host country, whose headquarters are in Washington,
New York, or London. Such a procedure is reminiscent of the terrible
mistakes of colonialism.
The development of large, foreign-inspired institutions super-
imposed on existing structures, or even as new ventures complete unto
themselves, may give short-term satisfaction of accomplishment. In-
deed, if enough money, buildings, equipment, and capable men are
brought to another country, a measure of success is bound to occur.
But an institution that is foreign-based, foreign-staffed, and foreign-
inspired will never become part of the national structure or a permanent
basis for a true national rebirth.
Let me emphasize: Help institutions that have shown capability, but
never superimpose a foreign administration on the country you want
to help.
The Wisconsin Experience in the
University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
John T. Murdock
In march of 1964 the University of Wisconsin sent its first team mem-
bers, under the direction of Dr. Herbert R. Bird, to take part in an
institutional development contract with the Federal University of Rio
Grande do Sul (UFRGS) in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
Since that time the University of Wisconsin has maintained a staff of
eight to ten professors in Brazil. This was one of four similar contracts
between the United States and Brazilian universities financed by the
United States Agency for International Development. Basically, the
objectives of all four contracts were the same: to help develop the Bra-
zilian universities into relevant institutions of higher learning with ef-
fective activities in agricultural research, teaching, and extension. The
approach to this goal has been substantially different at each location,
yet each contract has been reasonably effective. We may conclude,
therefore, that there is no magic formula to follow in successfully ad-
ministering such activities.
I shall make no effort to outline the intricacies of contract adminis-
tration or to suggest a "surefire" method for successful contract
operation. Rather, I shall point out some of the activities of the Wis-
consin-UFRGS contract that have been most successful and the reason-
ing behind them.
Perhaps the most important concept our team had to grasp was that
the phrase ". . . patterned after the land-grant system . . ." would have
been, if interpreted strictly, extremely difficult and perhaps undesirable
to achieve. UFRGS, like most other Brazilian universities, was pri-
marily a teaching institution with practically no research or extension
activities and only limited contact with rural problems. Traditionally,
the professor would come to the university to teach his class and then
go on to his second or third job. Most agricultural research in the state
was conducted by the State Secretariat of Agriculture (S.A.), or the
Federal Ministry of Agriculture (M.A.). Extension activities were
conducted by the S.A., the M.A., the Rice Institute (IRGA), and the
Extension Service (ASCAR). The extension activities of state and
federal agencies other than ASCAR were largely "service oriented."
ASCAR, a part of the Brazilian ABCAR system, is closely patterned
after our cooperative agricultural extension service but has no organiza-
tional connection with the university.
John T. Murdock is Professor of Soils, University of Wisconsin, Madison;
he was Chief of Party, 1964-1968, University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
81
82 MURDOCK — THE WISCONSIN EXPERIENCE IN BRAZIL
To centralize research, teaching, and extension activities for the
state within the framework of the university would have required a
considerable political and organizational upheaval. It would have de-
stroyed programs that the Brazilians understood and had worked hard
to make functional within their system. It would have doubtless created
ill feelings and opposition to the university at a time when the university
sorely needed interagency support, particularly in the form of joint
staffs, to take full advantage of the assistance program. What it would
have done to the attitude of the local people toward the U.S. staff on
the contract goes without saying.
For these reasons, the staff chose to interpret "land-grant system"
as "land-grant concept" (philosophy or idea) and to act accordingly.
This meant that instead of trying to establish a U.S. system in a Bra-
zilian situation, we were faced with a more compatible goal of helping
the Brazilians develop their own system through coordinated research,
teaching, and extension activities. This may appear to be a small point,
but it makes a tremendous difference in attitudes, contract operations,
and specific project activities.
In selecting major project areas, consideration was given to the de-
velopment of the activities which were recognized as belonging to the
university and which, if fully developed, would place the university in
a key position in regard to agricultural programs of the state. The
university's basic responsibility was to train competent agricultural spe-
cialists. To do this, the best available professional staff and teaching
material, including research information, were needed. If these could
be supplied, it was reasoned that the university would assume a place
of leadership that would establish it in a coordinating role among the
agricultural agencies of the state.
Initially the contract staff had divided opinions on the "starting
place" for staff training. There was a shortage of well-trained agricul-
tural specialists at the B.S. level, and many on the Brazilian and
U.S. staffs felt that the best approach would be to concentrate on teach-
ing undergraduates and send selected staff to the United States for
training. But certain factors dictated against this approach:
1. The undergraduate curriculum was set by federal law, making it
impossible for the university to make any basic curriculum changes
needed to improve undergraduate teaching.
2. Much of the professors' time at the university was limited to the
classroom teaching; thus, it was difficult to develop effective counter-
part relationships with U.S. staff.
3. There was a general feeling that it would be difficult to change
course content because of the influence of the older, more traditional
chair professors. This proved to be true only to a limited extent.
4. There was little organized and relevant local research to serve
as a basis for course improvement.
MURDOCK — THE WISCONSIN EXPERIENCE IN BRAZIL 83
The other approach considered was to develop post-graduate courses
in critical areas. The major objection to this approach was a general
feeling that facilities were inadequate and that there was no improved
job market for M.S. degree students. The federal government did not
recognize advanced degrees in its civil service positions. Many felt
that staff could best be supplied from training programs in the United
States. The factors which dictated in favor of the post-graduate course
were as follows:
1. The U.S. staff, most of whom had graduate teaching experience,
could be used to greatest advantage in graduate teaching, thesis orienta-
tion, and research activities.
2. Making the graduate thesis a part of the training program could
provide a logical means for the university to become involved in re-
search programs.
3. This program would provide a large number of trained staff for
undergraduate teaching, extension, and applied research in a short
period of time. Such a staff would not be removed from the actual
conditions of work in the state and would be more likely to stay in
critical positions in the program.
4. After relatively short periods the graduate students would be
excellent counterparts to U.S. staff, whereas those sent to the United
States are essentially lost for periods of two to five years — assuming
they return.
5. The program would provide an effective screening process for
selecting candidates to go to the United States for advanced degree
training.
In March of 1965 the decision was made to begin graduate programs
in crop production, animal production, and soil science and to
strengthen existing graduate courses in agricultural economics and
rural sociology. This has been, without question, the most productive
decision in the history of the contract and directly or indirectly re-
sponsible for major program accomplishments.
Within two years the results of the research activities of the
UFRGS staff and graduate students began to distinguish the university
as a source of information and specialized assistance. Cooperative re-
search programs were established with the S.A., IRGA, and M.A. ; by
1968, 60 major research projects were in progress, and 20 had been
completed. On the basis of the results of these research activities and
summaries of previous work it was possible to implement the following
proposals:
1. Put soil testing on a functional basis with two model laboratories
to make basic lime and fertilizer recommendations for the state.
2. Establish systems of intensive rotations with rice-pasture, wheat-
pasture, and wheat-soybean rotations.
84 MURDOCK — THE WISCONSIN EXPERIENCE IN BRAZIL
3. Set up basic recommendations as to varieties and cultural prac-
tices for major crops.
4. Establish a program of forage conservation and evaluation.
5. Identify major livestock disease and parasite problems in the
state.
6. Draw up recommendations regarding rural credit needs and poli-
cies in the state.
7. Determine major factors which influence practice adoption by
farmers.
The graduate courses have become an integral part of the Faculty
of Economics and the Faculty of Agronomy, and 100 students have
completed the course work for the M.S. degree in the last three years.
The regulations for these courses are being used as a guide in estab-
lishing the post-graduate division of UFRGS in the federally ordered
university reorganization.
The graduate program has had both direct and indirect effects on
the undergraduate program. It has provided research information,
teaching material, and staff for the strengthening of the courses. Ten
graduates with M.S. degrees are now teaching at least one under-
graduate course each, and 12 more have been hired as full-time teachers
and researchers. New staff members have worked with older staff
members to set up a new undergraduate curriculum for the university
reorganization. Even high school levels have been reached by the pro-
gram. Staff and students of the graduate course in agricultural and
extension education, begun in 1967, have been conducting in-service
training for teachers at the state's 27 vocational agriculture schools.
In 1966 an agreement was signed by UFRGS and AS CAR to
coordinate the activities of the institutions, making UFRGS responsible
for extension agent training and technical assistance, and AS CAR
responsible for the local extension activities. Since signing the agree-
ment, the university has engaged in an active retraining program for
agronomists in the field. In 1968, 230 agronomists were given short-
course training by UFRGS staff, and almost all the bankers in the state
participated in short courses on rural credit.
As an outgrowth of this agreement, UFRGS and its U.S. counter-
parts established a pilot community development project to further train
recent M.S. degree graduates and to demonstrate the impact of modern
technology on the development of the Central High Plains region of Rio
Grande do Sul.
This region is typical of traditional subsistence farming with dimin-
ishing production and increasing economic problems. The region's
agricultural resources include deep soils with rolling topography well
suited for mechanization; 60 to 70 inches of rainfall annually with
MURDOCK — THE WISCONSIN EXPERIENCE IN BRAZIL 85
limited dry periods ; hard-working farmers with a strong desire for
improvement; and potentially excellent rural leadership.
Certain basic steps were taken to establish the program:
1. A natural resource survey was conducted and problems limiting
agricultural production were identified.
2. Regional and county extension agronomists were retrained in
basic soil fertility, conservation, and crop production problems.
3. The program was explained to the farmers through mass media
(radio and newspaper), and local centers were set up in which the
farmers could congregate for further explanation of the project and
instruction in soil sampling techniques. Each extension agronomist
was assigned to one or more of these centers.
4. Soil samples were collected at the centers and sent to the Facul-
ties of Agronomy and Veterinary for analysis and recommendations.
Over 3,000 samples from the program region were analyzed.
5. Support from government agencies and local leaders was ob-
tained, including partial financing of the project and adequate agri-
cultural credit.
6. A development plan was initiated involving the people of the
community in an agricultural modernization program based on informa-
tion collected.
During the first crop year (1967) 40 key farmers were selected to
receive detailed technical assistance, and yield trials were made on 20
farms. Average yield increases on these farms were as follows: wheat,
800 percent; corn, 490 percent; and soybeans, 230 percent.
On the basis of the experience gained and the enthusiasm created by
the results of the first year's work, the program was extended to in-
clude 720 farmers in the Santa Rosa region in 1968, and new programs
were established in nine other regions of the state. By the end of 1970
direct assistance is expected to reach 10,000 farmers annually, and soil
tests with limited recommendations are planned for an additional 25,000
farmers annually. State and national interest in the program has been
expressed, and excellent interagency cooperation has been achieved.
The following factors were of prime importance in the planning and
implementation of this project:
1. The research information in agronomic practices and rural credit
made available by the research activities of the graduate programs at
UFRGS.
2. The availability of agronomists who received their M.S. degrees
at UFRGS and were familiar with local conditions to give direction to
the program.
3. The availability of highly trained specialists in an advisory
capacity.
86 MURDOCK — THE WISCONSIN EXPERIENCE IN BRAZIL
4. The ability to train adequate numbers of personnel to plan and
implement the project.
5. Interagency participation and cooperation.
6. Local leadership and enthusiasm for the program — thus, in-
volvement of people on the local level.
Technically there is nothing new about this program, but it has one
unique characteristic which has enabled it to function successfully:
the ability to bridge the gap between planning and implementation
through the retraining of large numbers of local technicians and the in-
volvement of local leadership. The municipal governments contributed
financially to the project, and such local agencies as the Rural Associa-
tion participated actively. For example, the Rural Association of
Santa Rosa increased its annual lime sales from 10 tons to 10,000 tons.
The logistic problems connected with such an increase were overcome
by the courage and foresight of the local leaders.
This short report cannot possibly reflect the many decisions and
interactions which have combined to make a project of this nature
successful. I hope I have given some indication of the importance of
graduate instruction and research programs within the developing
university, the utilization of interagency cooperation, and the involve-
ment of rural people in activities which may well determine the future
of agriculture in their area.
Education and Participation
in the Reality of the World
As It Is: At Home
R. H. Nelson
Almost two decades ago, several universities agreed to participate
in programs of technical assistance to other countries. Whether deans,
department heads, or staff influenced or agreed with that original de-
cision, the decision was made, and departments participated, if not en-
thusiastically, at least passively. Effective participation, however,
requires that the departments admit an obligation to involvement and
accept it enthusiastically. At this time, there appears to be a consensus
that such an obligation does exist, but opinions differ as to its priority.
For this discussion let us assume that the obligation has a high
enough priority that we should seriously consider the best means of
implementing it. In so doing, we should evaluate our experiences of
the past 20 years. How much better, if at all, are our colleges of agri-
culture, particularly the departments of animal science, fulfilling their
roles in international programs ? Do we take our responsibilities in this
area any more seriously now? Are we preparing the foreign students
trained here to tackle the problems in their home countries ? Is it pos-
sible for our own students to get the kind of training necessary to
work with people in other countries to help improve their agriculture ?
Education of students from other countries
Since the late 1940's, the number of foreign students in the United
States has expanded greatly and now stands at more than 70,000. Some
students come for special programs, others as undergraduates, but the
majority come for graduate degrees. In many departments of 20 years
ago, the army experiences of one or two staff members was the total of
all foreign travel and experience (except Canadian) for the entire staff.
It was only natural therefore that foreign students were fitted into
programs identical to those followed by U.S. students except for some
occasional collateral courses designed to take care of apparent inade-
quate preparation. What else could have been expected from a staff
with no first-hand knowledge of the student's country or the type of
work needing attention on his return?
Yet, even today, the increased foreign travel and experience of our
staff has had little if any effect on foreign student study programs. We
R. H. Nelson is Professor and Chairman, Department of Animal Husbandry,
Michigan State University, East Lansing.
87
88 NELSON — EDUCATION AND PARTICIPATION AT HOME
seldom take into account, for example, such things as the fact that some
students are already experienced staff members in an institution in their
country, whereas others are younger men who have only recently re-
ceived a B.S. or its equivalent. In many cases the older, experienced
students will be returning to guide or administer programs in teaching,
research, and extension ; a strong research degree is not necessarily the
best training for such responsibilities.
The number of undergraduate foreign students has not been great,
and therefore little thought has been given to their special needs. How-
ever, we could at least utilize staff members with foreign experience to
advise these students. If we do not have staff experience in a particular
student's country or part of the world, it might be worth the effort to
put him in contact with someone in another department who may have
had such experience. In many instances it may be the seemingly in-
significant personal attentions that have the most lasting and worthwhile
effect.
Probably little could have been done in the past to design graduate
programs to fit specific needs of individual students because of the in-
flexibility of the requirements set by graduate schools. However, the
trend towards departmental autonomy in setting requirements should
allow more flexible and hopefully more suitable programs. If this trend
continues, more and more responsibility regarding the appropriateness
and quality of the degrees will lie with departments. It may no longer
be possible to use the crutch of graduate school requirements as a
reason for doing or not doing certain things.
Even though the trend is toward more departmental autonomy, that
alone does not necessarily solve our problem. Consider the experience
of a staff member from an agricultural experiment station in a South
American country, a station statistician with a M.S. in statistics. He
was given an AID grant for participant training to get a Ph.D. in
statistics in the United States. After enrolling in one of our graduate
schools, he found that the program emphasized theoretical statistics
too much for the job he was expected to do when he returned. It could
be that what he needed was something like the Ph.D. program in sta-
tistics 20 to 25 years ago. However, most statistics departments have
set modern degree requirements which would make this impossible. Can
we be more realistic? Too often these people return to their country
educated beyond the job to be done.
The foreign student's problem of financing his education in the
United States varies with the country from which he comes as well as
with the university which he attends. However, in most cases, well-
qualified students can find a source of support. AID participant train-
ing programs have made it possible for large numbers of students to
get graduate training in this country.
NELSON— EDUCATION AND PARTICIPATION AT HOME 89
The foreign student studying animal science in this country offers
us a real opportunity to export technology, understanding, and friend-
ship. Let's take full advantage of the opportunity.
Training U.S. students for foreign service
Animal science majors planning to work in another country were
a rarity until only recently, and even now their numbers are few. The
fact that they are scattered in various universities places so few of
them at any one institution that specialized courses for their benefit are
hard to justify. However, if we want to be realistic about training some
students for careers in international animal science, two specific ideas
may be worthy of consideration: arrangement or possible requirement
of some study or experience in a foreign country at both the graduate
and undergraduate levels, preferably in that part of the world where
the student hopes to work; and cooperation between universities on
specialized courses or curricula. Perhaps no more than half a dozen
animal science departments in the entire country should offer a curricu-
lum preparing students in this field. This could be accomplished more
easily if there were reciprocity between states on out-of-state tuition for
specialized curricula offered by one and not the other. The latter might
even be worth consideration with regard to other low enrollment cur-
ricula in colleges of agriculture.
There can be little doubt that more and more students will be in-
terested in preparing for a career serving agriculture in other countries.
With increasing competence on the part of animal science personnel
and increasing numbers of people from other countries on our campuses,
it should be possible to improve the training for such careers.
Staff participation in overseas assignments
Here is the area of our greatest involvement. It is also the area
with the greatest differences of opinion on the obligation to involvement
and how best to implement any such obligation. In addition, it is
probably the area of our least competence.
Staff experience, or more correctly inexperience, outside the United
States in the early 1950's has been discussed earlier and mentioned here
only because of its critical importance in overseas assignments. To
some extent this deficiency has been corrected over the years as a result
of continued participation in institution-building programs. However,
the total number of staff years on foreign assignment is not a very
objective measure of staff competence to take on the responsibility of a
new project, for it is not likely that a person with overseas experience
will accept a new assignment. Moreover, even if someone with previous
experience is willing to go, the new assignment is likely to be in a
different country with different language, beliefs, traditions, and so
90 NELSON — EDUCATION AND PARTICIPATION AT HOME
forth. In other words, we are quite likely better than we were but not
as good as we think we are.
Has 20 years of experience with staff members on foreign assign-
ment resulted in any evolution in the attitude of the department or its
chairman to these international programs? On the basis of the CIC-
AID Rural Development Research Project reported in Building Insti-
tutions to Serve Agriculture, there has been considerable variation as
well as change in attitudes. The general feeling of the staff and chair-
man of the department with which I am best acquainted is probably best
described as passive, but with increasing individual willingness to ac-
cept an overseas assignment. This latter trend can probably be ex-
plained by the fact that in recent years prospective employees have been
informed that they may be expected to participate in a foreign program
sometime during their tenure. Actual antagonism, if it exists, is
probably not against the objectives of these projects but more likely
against some of the by-products.
A department chairman's attitude of passivity is often exemplified
in his assistance in recruiting: He invites the project director to con-
tact staff members concerning overseas positions but indicates that, as
department chairman, he will neither urge nor discourage their ac-
ceptance. On the other hand, project directors seldom show much
enthusiasm for recruiting anyone receiving a strong recommendation
from the chairman. A less passive chairman, it seems to me, would
at least indicate to his staff that foreign assignments would receive
as much consideration in promotions and raises as do campus activities.
In reality there seems to be very little difference in recruiting in 1969
and in 1951, except for possibly greater reluctance on recruiting people
at retirement age.
Once a staff member has accepted an overseas position and begins
the usual two years' leave from the department, he apparently begins
to experience what has been described as "an assignment to ambiguity."
Recently changes have been made in contracts to permit periods for
orientation and language study if needed. These important modifica-
tions, however, though easy to write into a contract, are difficult to put
into effective practice. If the project is not a new one, there are prob-
ably a number of staff members and administrators who can give some
general orientation. However, the person best qualified to give the most
useful orientation is generally the man being replaced. The orientation
often consists of a period of overlap of at least two weeks at the over-
seas post. This orientation may actually occur in some instances, but
usually the person terminating is in a hurry to get home and the new
man has delays in arriving. Quite often their paths cross somewhere
between home and post, and all they may get to say is, "Good luck."
NELSON — EDUCATION AND PARTICIPATION AT HOME 91
No easy solution to this problem is seen under present methods of
staffing projects. Currently, departments have no obligation to ori-
entate and prepare their staff. It appears that AID has done its part in
making time available for better preparation, but we have not made the
necessary reciprocal efforts.
On some projects the work of the overseas staff member would
be expedited by support from the home department. However, firsthand
experience has shown that requests from overseas staff are lucky to
get second or third priority of staff time if they get any attention at
all. This is another illustration of the passive or negative attitude
displayed at the department level.
One aspect of participation in technical assistance activities which
has received much attention is the impact on a participant's career.
An anticipated career setback is often used as a reason for refusal
to serve on such an assignment. Close scrutiny might very well prove that
this excuse is not based on fact. While there can be little doubt that
a two-year interruption in the career of a sophisticated fundamental
biological scientist could be extremely detrimental, very few such
scientists have ever been asked to participate in overseas agricultural
programs. An analysis of the members of our staff who have spent
two to three years in technical assistance shows that in fact none has
been harmed in his professional career. It is difficult to see how such
an assignment could hurt one's ability to instruct undergraduates or
to carry out extension or applied research programs.
There probably have been other instances, at least in the early
years of the program, when people away on assignment were over-
looked for salary increases and possibly also for promotions. However,
with improved administration of these foreign programs, this over-
sight has in most cases been corrected.
Considerable criticism has been directed towards the detrimental
effects of overseas programs on departmental programs at home. These
effects, too, have probably been overemphasized. Most departments
have learned to adjust to having staff away on sabbatical leaves —
and foreign assignments are in some ways even less of a hardship,
since staff salaries remain behind for temporary replacements. It
would be extremely difficult to prove that our ongoing programs have
deteriorated to any extent because of participation in technical assis-
tance programs.
The return to the campus, to the department, and to the old job
is where more effects are noticeable. Some return and step into the
job they left apparently without losing a step, whereas others — most
often younger men — may even decide to make a major change in their
careers.
92 NELSON — EDUCATION AND PARTICIPATION AT HOME
Recommendations and summary
Apparently continuity, staffing with experienced personnel, and
enthusiastic departmental support are desirable goals. These will
probably never be accomplished in a satisfactory manner until foreign
programs are accepted as another phase of the department's ongoing
program. To bring this about in an area such as animal science, it
would seem necessary to have a minimum of two positions for inter-
national staff so that there would always be one available for foreign
assignment and one on campus, with alternation between the two.
Other staff would also participate in long-term and short-term assign-
ments as the need arose.
The following is quoted from a proposal for the development of
such staff at Michigan State University (Nov. 4, 1965):
"To get a more effective and expanded international program in
agriculture, home economics, and veterinary science, it will be neces-
sary to develop within key departments a core of individuate fully
responsible and committed to international activity. It is envisaged
that these staff, like extension specialists, would be based in new posi-
tions added to specific departments. These staff would be recruited from
within the department or hired from outside sources with the joint
approval of the departmental chairman and the institute director. Such
positions would, like other appointments, carry the tenure policy of
the university.
"It would be extremely important that such individuals be per-
mitted to return to the university campus for approximately one year
after a two-year assignment overseas. While at East Lansing, these
staff members would participate in international programs on campus,
catch up on developments in their fields of specialization, write up
research and reports, engage in language training if necessary, and
assist in department teaching and research where feasible, especially
to give emphasis to international agriculture in courses and curricula.
This contact is essential for both the individual and the department.
"Individuals hired as international core faculty should be accorded
recognition for salary increase and promotion on an equivalent basis
with other members of a specific department. On-campus activity dur-
ing the home leave periods as well as overseas performance should be
evaluated for merit advances. Such evaluation would likely be a joint
responsibility of the department chairman and institute director.
"By setting up positions within departments specifically for interna-
tional activity, experienced and capable staff for technical assistance
programs could be committed for long-range involvement. ^ Thus,
there would likely be less tendency to take on greater responsibilities
than a department or college could handle with its core of international
staff. This arrangement would not prevent any department from
NELSON — EDUCATION AND PARTICIPATION AT HOME 93
accepting additional foreign assistance contracts, assuming that such
projects could be handled by staff within the department or by per-
sonnel contracted by the department from outside sources and paid
through contract funds. The advantages of being able to build conti-
nuity, interest, and fiscal support into overseas projects (especially
long-term commitments in institution-building and regional development
research) are likely to outweigh the disadvantages associated with more
flexible, but haphazard relationships in recruitment, over-staffing,
and financing under the present system."
Animal science departments have participated in technical assistance
programs for almost 20 years. Some improvements have been made,
but they have not been commensurate with what might be expected
with this much experience. If these programs are worthwhile and we
are going to participate, then we should make every effort to set them
up so that we can give enthusiastic, whole-hearted support. This can
probably be best accomplished with departmental staff positions in
international animal science. This type of organization would help
not only technical assistance programs but also on-campus education
programs for both U.S. and foreign students.
The Changing Pattern of Involvement
Consistent with Major Goals
Orville G. Bextley
American colleges of agriculture are faced with important decisions
about their future domestic and international roles in agricultural
research and education. The total body of scientific knowledge is ex-
panding rapidly, thus increasing the potential for new technological
developments growing out of scientific discovery. In terms of pro-
viding research and educational support to the nation's agribusiness
complex, the colleges' responsibilities are growing in both scope and
complexity. In order to generate new scientific knowledge and then
cast their findings into new technological forms with practical appli-
cations, colleges are finding it necessary to employ highly specialized
staff members. Today's research programs require a high degree of
planning and often can be investigated more efficiently by cooperating
with other institutions or with counterparts in industry or government
laboratories.
Teaching and extension programs must be continually restudied
and revised to meet the changing manpower needs of scientific agri-
culture as well as the new informal educational demands of both our
farm and non-farm rural population.
Colleges must also respond to the problem of building research,
teaching, and public service competence for international agriculture.
The national commitment to technical assistance programs in developing
countries is a matter of record, but universities and colleges of agricul-
ture are still groping for a comprehensive educational rationale and
the means to implement international programs without impairing the
effectiveness of their domestic commitments.
A recent International Developmental Assistance and International
Education Task Force, established by the National Association of
State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges and led by John A. Hannah,
director of the Agency for International Development, concludes
that, "With two decades of direct international involvement and experi-
ence by our institutions, our deep concern for both the immediate and
the long-range self interest of our nation compels us to press for vigor-
ous and realistic commitment to international development assistance
abroad and international education at home" (1). In two decades we
have found that the American university's philosophical basis for in-
Orville G. Bentley is Dean of the College of Agriculture, University of Illi-
nois at Urbana-Champaign.
94
BENTLEY — THE CHANGING PATTERN OF INVOLVEMENT 95
volvement in international programs is fraught with shortcomings.
However, based on past experience, we are better prepared to build for
the future. The report continues with what, in my opinion, is a signifi-
cant statement: "A long-range goal, for the nation and for its universi-
ties, is a dynamic interaction among scholars, interrelating educational
programs around the world. Universities in the developing countries
will become respected partners of U.S. universities, fully able to
1 educate the thinkers, leaders and technicians required for development
of their nation's potential, and with research capability to keep up with
the demands of modernizing agriculture, expanding industry, improving
health, and other change. Reciprocally, the academic process at home
will develop new generations well prepared to cope with the worldwide
problems they will face"(i).
A series of reports on the professional school and world affairs
has been developed under the auspices of Education and World Affairs
(EWA). One report correctly concludes that 'The response of the
agricultural colleges to world affairs cannot be considered outside
their rather unique context. Indeed, it is impossible to anticipate
the future development of the agricultural colleges by means of the
normal categories which lend themselves to an analysis of international
contributions. Although the agricultural colleges confront the usual
concerns of curriculum development, entertain their own uncertainties
about how best to assist foreign students, and thread their way through
the complex contractual relationships of work abroad, the total circum-
stance of an agrarian world in need of rapid change forms the tre-
mendous pressure which is now upon them.
'The major aspects of this context for future planning are three-
fold:
"First, the agricultural colleges must balance short-term contri-
butions to the world's food technology with long-term investments
of resources m building research and educational institutions in the
developing countries. In short, the pyramiding and critical proportion
of the world's food needs places upon the agricultural colleges a demand
that is perhaps greater than that faced by any other professional school.
"Second, the agricultural colleges must gain a better understanding
of the basic ideas of their own history in order to understand and
overcome the institutional constraints found in the developing countries.
^ "Third, since the agricultural colleges constitute a national system
of agricultural research and education, they face the imperative that
responsibilities be differentiated among them. It must be assumed
that not all of the agricultural colleges, in terms of their state and re-
gional responsibilities, can be expected to convert themselves into strong
centers of international activity. Some of the colleges must take on this
96 BENTLEY — THE CHANGING PATTERN OF INVOLVEMENT
worldwide responsibility, while the remainder should continue to in-
crease their sensitivity for international affairs" (2, p. 44).
As colleges of agriculture attempt to develop an educational rationale
to undergird their international programs, three major issues must
be considered:
First: The adoption of a worldwide approach to agriculture in
the training of U.S. graduate, undergraduate and foreign students.
The EWA report I referred to earlier makes this strong appeal for
a world view of agriculture: 'The subject of world affairs gives the
agricultural colleges an opportunity to change their traditional orienta-
tion from technical vocationalism to technological humanism. In
relating the agricultural college to the international community, one
finds a clear expression of how best to understand the application of
science to the condition of man. Whatever curriculum planning may
hold in store for the agricultural colleges as they move to continue
their service to the United States and to accept a greater challenge
in the international community, they must confront the fact that tech-
nology has become a ruling principle of culture, and that it is a way of
linking the heritage of the human struggle with the meaning of the
human condition. Every student educated in the agricultural colleges
should know something of these principles and how they apply to the
agrarian revolutions around the world. Sir Eric Ashby has suggested
that every student, regardless of his future assignments, should learn to
weave his technology into the fabric of society, and thus take his place
among the truly liberally educated" (2, p. 61).
Second: Financial assistance by the federal government. The
willingness of individual scientists, as well as departments, colleges, and
universities to participate in international programs is important,
but there is also a critical need for joint contributions and mutual
understanding on the part of universities and the federal government
for technical assistance programs which are consistent with the tradi-
tional university roles of teaching, research, extension, and public ser-
vice. Federal funding must be handled through mechanisms that permit
flexible program implementations on a continuing basis. An excellent
example of a step in this direction is the limited congressional authori-
zation under section 21 Id of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1966. This
establishes a grant program designed to support research and educa-
tional institutions in the United States, strengthening their capacity
to develop and to carry out programs concerned with economic and
social developments of less developed countries.
Third: staff involvement. The success of any university or college
international program will ultimately be determined by the dedication,
competence, and innovative abilities of its faculty. The degree to which
BENTLEY — THE CHANGING PATTERN OF INVOLVEMENT 97
staff members individually and collectively conceptualize opportunities
for professionally rewarding careers and possibilities for significant
service to mankind will determine the viability and success of the
program undertaken by an institution. I have summarized my views
concerning international agricultural programs in a pamphlet entitled
"New Commitments for the Land-Grant University in a Hungry
World" (3) ; certain of those comments seem appropriate for this
occasion today.
"As we move through the last half of the twentieth century, the
Land-Grant university faces some challenging decisions concerning
its role in solving pressing societal problems both foreign and domestic.
In the international arena the Land-Grant university has a unique
capability for developing programs that will strengthen research and
graduate teaching and for helping to establish a viable extension pro-
gram aimed at promoting adoption of a new agricultural technology.
"If the Land-Grant university is to fulfill this role, it must con-
ceptualize perspectives that include international education in its ser-
vice to society. And if the colleges of agriculture are to fulfill their
portion of this great mission, they must demonstrate in tangible form
the scope of the involvement to the faculty and their constituents.
Besides being essential to planning international programs, faculty
overseas experience and campus feedback about cultural, economic,
and social environments become meaningful enrichments to ongoing
education and research programs. Moreover, American faculty mem-
bers will find such experience essential as they serve in the role of
advisers for both American and foreign students.
"We must recognize that increasing the world's capability to pro-
duce food will require many inputs besides education and research.
A few of these are fertilizer, capital, labor, improved water manage-
ment, price incentive policies, and more favorable attitudes towards
agriculture by governments. But it is significant that the recurring
theme in most economic and agricultural development programs is
the need for more educational programs that are relevant to the prob-
lems and needs of the people to be served.
"The noted University of Chicago economist T. W. Schultz has
said, The requirement calls for a transformation of existing knowl-
edge so that it will be economically useful in poor countries and for
a further advance in knowledge that will be applicable to agricultural
production.'
"With imagination, energy, funds, and a commitment, the U.S.
college of agriculture, in the Land-Grant tradition that has so clearly
served the needs of U.S. agriculture, can make a contribution to eco-
nomically developing countries, and can gain much in return. The need
grows more urgent with each passing year."
98
BENTLEY — THE CHANGING PATTERN OF INVOLVEMENT
References
1. International Developmental Assistance, A Statement by the Task Force on
International Developmental Assistance and International Education, National
Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, Washington, D.C.,
January 1969.
2. Education and World Affairs, The Professional School and World Affairs:
Report of the Task Force on Agriculture and Engineering , University of New
^Mexico Press, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1967.
3. Bentley, Orville G., "New Commitments for the Land-Grant University in a
Hungry World," The Land-Grant University and World Food Needs, Uni-
versity of Illinois College of Agriculture Special Publication 13, March 1968,
pp. 161-162.
1M— 7-70— 136
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