Word: graining
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Grain of Wisdom...
...CLIMATE. Unlike the bulk of U.S. farm land, more than 60% of Soviet grain fields lie far above the 49th parallel (see map), where rainfall is sparse, the sun less powerful and the growing seasons short; frost hits large tracts in Siberia in early September. According to Soviet farm authorities, favorable weather conditions prevail about once every four years. This year there were two damaging developments. A freakishly warm winter failed to provide the essential protective coat of snow for the winter wheat, hurting the crop. Then, just as the spring plantings of corn and wheat were sprouting...
FARM INEFFICIENCY. Though the Soviet press has not directly mentioned the size of this year's shortfall or of grain purchases from abroad, it is filled with complaints about the troubles of farmers. Many articles lament the woeful state of Soviet farm machinery and the lack of spares. By one count, 450 harvesters in three Novosibirsk districts alone are laid up at present for want of parts. Krokodil, the satirical weekly, recently ran a cartoon showing a farm worker running a lottery to get a spare part for his thresher. Pravda complained that harvesters manufactured at the Krasnoyarsk plant...
...crop-producing techniques as soil conservation, herbicide use and pest control-a legacy of the decades during which the head of a collective farm was most often not its best manager but its most politically reliable Communist. As a result, a Soviet farmer produces only one-tenth as much grain as his U.S. counterpart. Reports a member of a U.S. Agriculture Department team that studied Soviet farms last month: "The managing staffs of the large farms are being upgraded, but still, compared with the good top farmers in the West, they just don't have...
Despite the lower 1975 harvest, the Soviet consumer is unlikely to feel the difference, either in his stomach or his wallet. Rather than cut back on livestock and poultry output, Soviet leaders have elected to sell gold worth $636 million to get the cash to buy grain abroad. The ironic result is that although American consumers may be forced to pay more for food as a consequence of Soviet grain purchases, Soviet citizens will enjoy bread at artificially low fixed prices. They range in Moscow from 6? for a 1-lb. loaf of tasty black bread...