Russian leaders visit Vinduska farm
By ROWENA PLETT
Reporter / photographer
Terry and Cindy Vinduska hosted very special visitors Thursday. They were a group of 18 Russians on tour in the United States for one week.
Ranging in age from the lower 30s to mid-50s, the diverse group included four men and 14 women, all highly educated and involved in government, feed mill management, scientific research, or poultry farm management. A Russian journalist was among them.
The Russians were very open and friendly, many of them armed with cameras and all eager to see how an American farm family lives.
The Vinduska farm was the only farm they visited and, judging from their reaction, it may have been their favorite stop on the tour.
After visiting several of Vinduska's fields of corn and milo, they returned to the farmstead at 1578 270th to view farm equipment and buildings. Some climbed into the cab of Vinduska's four-wheel drive John Deere tractor and his Gleaner combine.
Some of the women took a liking to the cat and dog and posed for pictures with them.
The Vinduskas invited them into their home, where they were served donuts, brownies, hot tea or coffee, and lemonade.
Vinduska showed them his DTN computer which provides up-to-the-second grain prices and weather reports, among other things.
The women asked about Vinduskas' children and even looked through some photo albums. They asked Cindy, who is a teacher at Marion Elementary School, many questions about the American education system.
Alex Kholopov, a resident of Moscow who works for the United States Grains Council in Russia, acted as interpreter for the team.
Khopolov said the Russians want to develop feed grain milling standards equal to those in the United States to avoid trade disputes.
Russia's feed mills buy corn from the U.S. The large mills are located near major cities where workers are plentiful and labor is cheap.
Jeris Eikenberry, an American, accompanied the team. He is a retired Purdue University professor who serves as a consultant to the group. He has made six trips to Russia in the past six months, assisting them in feed regulation reform.
According to Eikenberry, the Russian government currently has a law requiring that all feed mills in Russia use the same, government-mandated formula in the rations they produce.
"They need competition," Eikenberry said, which is why he is helping them develop a new feed mill law which will allow for a diversity of products.
The team was in the United States to learn about the U.S. grain monitoring and elevator inspection process. They also toured a feed mill in Abilene.
Eikenberry said various elements of Russian society — government, private industry, scientists, media — are learning how to work together.
He said the new generation of Russians will not go back to communism.
"They like Americans," he noted.
He said the Russians are fascinated by American homes, each one generally being unique in design. Most Russians, he said, live in expensive high-rise apartments.
As the team was departing, they presented the Vinduskas with several gifts as tokens of their appreciation.
Eikenberry shook Vinduska's hand and said,
"They'll forget all about the feed mills and all that stuff, but they'll remember being in your home."
Vinduska represents Kansas on the United States Grains Council and serves on the 20-member executive committee. The USGC sponsored the tour.
Vinduska is a member of the Kansas Corn Commission. About $350,000 out of a million to a million and a half dollars raised in Kansas through a corn sales check-off each year goes from the KCC to the USGC, in part to develop more markets and increase exports.
