Ukraine A Key In Soviet Agricultural
BY STEVE RENQUIST
Cargil Crop Analyst
Commodity Marketing Division
Editor’s Note: Steve Renquist
spent six months in the Ukraine in
1978 living and working on Soviet
farms as part of a USDA exchange
program.
The nuclear accident near
Chernobyl in the Soviet Union in
late April has raised many
questions and caused much con
cern about its effect on Soviet
agriculture.
The reactor site at Chernobyl is
located about 60 miles north of
Kiev, the capital of the Ukraine
The major area affected by the
initial release of radiation was in a
70-mile circle around Chernobyl,
encompassing a large portion of
the Kievskaya oblast. (An oblast is
an administrative subdivision
usually a bit larger than a county
in the United States )
The entire Republic of
Bvelomssia was the second hard
est-hit area. This republic lies to
the north of Chernobyl At the time
of the accident, winds were
blowing northwest out of the
Ukraine, across Byelorussia into
the Baltics, east Poland and
Scandanavia. The majority of the
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Ukraine is not believed to have
been seriously contaminated.
To understand what is at stake
requires an understanding of the
region’s historic agricultural
production, topography and
weather patterns.
Soviet Breadbasket
The Ukraine, considered the
breadbasket of the Soviet Union,
makes up about 3 percent of the
Soviet Union’s land mass. The
region supplies the populations of
three major cities - Moscow,
Leningrad and Kiev - with most of
their food.
According to estimates from the
U S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA), Ukrainian agricultural
production accounts for nearly 25
percent of all Soviet farm
production. Four smaller republics
north of Chernobyl also contribute
substantially to Soviet food
production.
Together, the five republics
account for nearly one-third of all
Soviet dairy production. The
largest sugarbeet production
regions in the Soviet Union are
located in the Ukraine, as are some
of the largest winter-wheat and
flax areas. Barley, corn and
potatoes are among the Ukraine’s
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major crops. The region also is one
of the Soviet Union’s largest swine
production areas.
These affected areas in the
northwest European Soviet Union
have a temperate, cool, moist
climate. Because of their relative
proximity to the Baltic Sea, they
have a reliable moisture source.
Rainfall is regular during the
summer growing season,
averaging 20-30 inches per year.
The heaviest rainfall months are
August and September During the
winter, there are numerous light
snows, but seldom does this area
experience major snow depths.
Summer temperatures generally
are in the 70s and 80s. It is unusual
to have long periods with tem
peratures in the 90s. The frost-free
growing season is 130-140 days
Winter temperatures usually are
moderated by the Baltic Sea and
rarely go past 10 degrees below
zero. However, the occasional
Artie cold air outbreak does
prevent this area from being a
significant winter-wheat growing
region.
Topography
The topography of the northern
Ukraine and Byelorussia closely
resembles Minnesota and
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Manitoba. The land is flat to gently
. ...mug, with nmnei ous lakes and
marshes dotted across the coun
tryside. It was once largely
covered with forests of birch and
pine. Today, many of the forests
have been cleared for farming and
grazing, but the majority of the
countryside is still checkered with
trees.
The gray and brown podzolic
soils are not nearly as fertile as the
famous chernozem, or black soils,
of the southern Ukraine and
middle Volga. (Podzolic soils are
formed in temperate to cold, moist
climates, usually under mixed
forests. They are marked by an
organic surface layer above a gray
leached layer.)
These forest soils are often
poorly drained, acidic and
vulnerable to overcropping.
Despite these problems, the soils
can be quite productive when
drained and limed and crops
rotated.
Because of the cool, moist,
relatively long growing season and
the podzolic soils, this region is
suited best for cultivation of winter
rye, oats, potatoes, flax, sugar
beets, pasture and forage crops.
With the abundance of pasture and
forage crops, this area also is
ideally suited for dairy and
livestock production.
These areas of the north
Ukraine, Byelorussia and the
Baltics during czanst times had a
long history of numerous small
farming communities. Byelorussia
and the Baltics are still the most
densely populated farmland in the
Soviet Union. Now under the Soviet
system of agriculture, these lands
and small communities have been
organized into two basic types of
farms - the sovhoz, or state farm,
and the kolhoz, or collective farm.
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System
In general, the sovhoz is owned
and operated by government
appointed people with little
community involvement. The
kolhoz is more of a cooperative
organization of farm families
granted perpetual rights to rent
free state land. Local Communist
party members elect the leaders,
with final approval from the farm
board members. Members have
more to say about production
decisions and income dispersal.
The state farm usually con
centrates on growing a few main
crops for delivery to state
procurement centers and little
else. While the collective produces
a few major crops, it typically tries
to be more versatile, producing a
lot of food stuffs for the com
munity. This western region of the
Soviet Union has many more
collective farms that state farms.
By Soviet Standards the farms of
Byelorussia and the Baltics are not
large, making up only about 3
percent of the agricultural land of
the Soviet Union
Despite the relatively small
amount of farmland in these areas,
approximately 10 percent of the
Soviet rye, 5 percent of the oats, 3-4
percent of the winter wheat, 13
percent of the potatoes, 5 percent
of the barley, 25 percent of the flax
and 7-8 percent of the Soviet milk
and meat are produced there.
Favorable weather patterns at
the time of the accident helped
prevent massive damage to
agriculture in the Ukraine. Winds
from the southeast carried much of
the contamination into the less
productive areas of Byelorussia.
By the tume the wind shifted, it
appears that much of the problem
had been contained.
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