AID cooperative agreement no. FAO-0705-A-00-2089-00 to the National Farmers Union (NFU) to develop democratic farm organizations, to support the technical assistance efforts of U. S. farmer volunteers to private Hungarian farmers, and to provide host farmers with Hungarian, Eastern European, Western European, and world marketing information

The program will: (1) assist Hungarian farmers in the transition from centrally controlled agriculture to private, free-enterprise agriculture; (2) transfer knowledge, skills, and expertise from approximately 20 U.S. farm volunteers to private Hungarian farmers; and (3) provide host farmers with information about Hungarian, Eastern European, Western European, and world markets utilizing econometric models to facilitate business decisions. An important aspect of this project is the people-to-people component, which offers the opportunity for U.S. volunteers and host-country farmers to understand each others" cultures and to establish lasting friendships. NFU will collaborate with the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) of Iowa State University and the Budapest University of Economic Sciences (BUES) to provide current projections of relative crop and livestock prices.