Prof. Lowdermilk Returns from Israel; Lauds Country’s Progress

Israel is making “tremendous” progress in its general economy, and its advances in agriculture are particularly “striking,” Dr. William Clay Lowdermilk, outstanding American agricultural authority declared here today.

Dr. Lowdermilk has just returned from a two-year stay in Israel as a technical assistance expert on behalf of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. He made his observations at a press conference arranged by the FAO at which he summarized his experiences in Israel. He was in Israel from 1955 until this year. He had been assigned by FAO to help the Haifa Technion develop a new department of agricultural engineering

Having been in Israel in 1951, and knowing the area from previous visits to pre-Israel Palestine dating as far back as 1939, Dr. Lowdermilk compared the present situation in the Jewish State and concluded that Israel is “a land of dynamic activity, an area of hope and determination.”

“Certainly they have mistakes sometimes, ” he stated, “but they correct whatever mistakes there may have been made. One of the most striking features of recent developments in Israel is the development of a place for the many refugees who have been flowing into the country. They have turned wastelands into productivity. Grasslands and mountains are now green with trees. New water pipelines have captured great underground springs.”

Dr. Lowdermilk reported that the Technion has already opened its new department of agricultural engineering and graduated eighteen agricultural engineers this year. The number will increase to between 30 and 35 agricultural engineers, soil conservationists and technicians a year. A new building to be used by the department will be opened by Technion next year, he said. The department will serve not only Israel, but the entire Middle East “in due time, ” he stressed.