The State of Iowa and the Soviet Union had a long history of agricultural cooperation dating back to the 1950s. Starting with agricultural exchange programs, the highlight of these cooperative experiences was the visit of Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev to Iowa State University and the Roswell Garst farm in 1959.

Building on this past history, Iowa State University (ISU) and the Lenin All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences (VASKhNIL), the leading Soviet agricultural research institution, entered into a cooperative research exchange agreement in 1988. To further these goals, a two-day symposium, "Insights into Perestroika: Implications for Agriculture and Scientific Cooperation," was held on the campus of Iowa State University on May 21-22, 1990. The event was co-hosted by the two institutions with the purpose of discussing the possible implications of the Soviet Union's political and economic reforms for U.S. agriculture and for encouraging further commercial exchanges between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. The forum also served as the backdrop to the signing of an additional cooperative agreement between ISU and VASKhNIL which included commercial exchange opportunities as well.

Members of the Soviet delegation in attendance at the symposium included Alexander Nikonov, President of VASKhNIL; Victor Nazarenko, Director of the Institute of Information and Technical and Economic Studies, Moscow; and Ivan Skiba, Chief of the Agricultural Department, Central Committee of the Communist Party. These delegates and others were on hand to discuss agricultural policies and practices with U.S. academic and political leaders such as Gordon Eaton, President of Iowa State University; Stan Johnson, Director of the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development at ISU; Marshall Goldman, Associate Director of Harvard University's Russian Research Center; John Chrystal, former Chariman of the Board and CEO of Banker's Trust Co.; and Tom Harkin, U.S. Senator from Iowa.

Following the symposium, the Soviet delegates spent a day touring central Iowa, stopping to visit farmers in Dallas Center, Iowa, before continuing on to Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.

This collection (1988-1990) includes a scrapbook created to document the "Insights into Perestroika" symposium. The scrapbook contains photocopies of relevant news clippings, color photographs of participants and proceedings, a copy of the program, and a copy of the 1990 Implementation Plan of the Commercial/Economic Component of the ISU/VASKhNIL Agreement signed by Gordon Eaton and Alexander Nikonov during the symposium.