Los Banos Rotary Club History
Duster Pilot Tells Of Israel

A brief first hand report of Israel and its fast changing agricultural economy was brought to the local Rotary Club Tuesday noon by Ray Fugate of Dos Palos. Fugate, a teacher in the Mendota schools and also an experienced pilot of spray and duster planes, returned recently from a special trip to Israel to instruct young Israeli pilots in the technique of dust and spray application by plane.

He was employed for the job by the Merom Company, a government sponsored company that has charge of all cotton farming operations in that country.

Relative to his specific job there, Fugate said his pilot students were exceptionally intelligent and capable and had little difficulty in learning the precision flying that is required for the close-to-ground application of insecticides. He also praised the mechanical aptitude of the ground crews and the excellent condition of the duster planes, all Stearman ships purchased in this country and in top mechanical condition.

Concerning agriculture generally, Fugate said he was amazed by the progress made by the Israeli people in agriculture in recent years, thanks largely to the efforts and assistance given them by Sam Hamburg, well known Los Banos district farmer. They have made more progress in the last nine years, he said, than in the previous five centuries. The contrast is particularly noticeable from the air, Fugate said, seeing the level, highly fertile and freshly irrigated crops, modern tractors and harvesting equipment in one area, and immediately adjacent, the Arabs continue with the antiquated methods of their ancestors, producing meager crops under the most adverse conditions. Despite this fact, Fugate said, the Arabs are today more prosperous and are more advanced than ever before.

The speaker was introduced by Frank Peluso, program chairman.
Ned Dickson, manager of the American Trust Co. and a member of the club board of directors, served as president of the club in the absence of President Ed Evans, who is on vacation. Another director, Randall Fawcett, will be in charge of the luncheon meeting next Tuesday.

August 2, 1957

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