By ANN ALLEN
Indiana Correspondent

ROCHESTER, Ind. — When Mark Kepler, the local Purdue University extension educator, went to Ukraine three years ago, he established a strong relationship with Poltava Agrarian Academy while joining two other Purdue educators and seven from the University of Illinois in presenting programs delineating the American way of agriculture.

The academy was established in 1920 while Ukraine was enjoying a short-lived period of independence from the Russian Empire. By 1921, however, Ukraine was reconquered and forced to endure a brutal Soviet rule that engineered two forced famines (1921-22 and 1932-33) in which more than eight million Ukrainians died. Soviet and German armies were responsible for another seven million to eight million deaths in World War II.

While studies continued at the academy, it wasn’t until 1944 – the end of the war – that the school showed marked growth. Following the 1991 breakup of the former USSR, Ukraine’s sovereignty was proclaimed, which had a positive effect on the academy.

As one of 20 agricultural schools in the country, it now has 8,000 students and a staff of 512, offering bachelors’, masters’ and Ph.D. degrees.

“Our mission on this trip was to give two days of presentations to students, faculty and local farmers,” Kepler said. “We also interacted with the staff in exploring ways the three universities could work together in research, teaching and extension.”

The rest of the group’s time was spent getting acquainted with the country.  About the size of Texas, Ukraine – the second largest country in Europe – is known as the “Breadbasket” for winter wheat, soybeans, peas and buckwheat.

“In a discussion with the minister of agriculture for the state of Poltava, he indicated there were three classes of farmers in Ukraine,” Kepler said. “There were those with less than an acre and a few livestock, those with a few hundred acres of ground and then, the larger farmers.”

It didn’t take long to grasp that the minister’s wish was to target the large farms to make faster progress. “There are extension people who work for the state and do not have direct ties with the academy,” Kepler said.

“On the other hand, the academy has received international grant monies to start their own extension system.”

Kepler, a Hoosier native who earned his undergraduate degree at Purdue and a master’s at South Dakota State University, found the trip to Poltava – population 300,000 – an experience in cultural diversity.

“I saw no overweight college students or tattoos,” he said. “Tight blue jeans were the norm.” In the villages surrounding the city, however, he found an aging, plainly dressed population.

While city dwellers purchased their groceries from local stores or went to a bazaar, villagers bought meat, fish, dairy products and other food items set out in open-air markets. Nevertheless, he found while Ukrainians had different lifestyles, they were all compassionate on the inside. He wanted to reach out to them.

Through ongoing talks, an exchange program gradually developed in which students from Ukraine went to the UoI last year. Kepler wanted something different; he wanted Ukrainians to have a true American experience, not a traditional exchange program.

Working with the academy at Poltava and the U.S. State Department, which allows certain foreign students to come to the country for four-month periods, he was able to create a summer work/travel program for post-secondary students to come here. The academy gave him the names of four students. He hoped to place at least three of them, but found homes for only two.

“It wasn’t easy for the kids to come here,” Kepler said. “It cost each of them $2,400 for paperwork, visas and travel arrangements. That’s a year’s salary in Ukraine.

“I needed to find farmers with children about the same ages of the students, who would be willing to pay the young people minimum wages, house and feed them and accompany them to Purdue field days.”

The first person he contacted was Tom Weaver, who grows seed corn for Pioneer. Weaver suggested Alan Gohn, who sells Pioneer Seed. Both are full-time farmers in a county in which most farming is done on a part-time basis. Both have college-age children and both agreed to have a Ukrainian worker for the summer.

“They were the catalyst that made this program work,” Kepler said. “Their farms are giving Sergii and Ol’ha (see related articles above and on page 4B) an opportunity to see firsthand farms privately owned and operated by full-time farmers.”

Kepler hopes the success of these visits will trigger interest for more visits next year.

“We really hit a homerun this year,” he said. “I predict a lot of tears will be shed when these two return home.”