Khrushchev's Virgin Lands Campaign & Food Security in the USSR

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Our historical documentary series on the history of the Cold War continues with a video on the Virgin Lands Campaign, as the ruler of the USSR Khrushchev tried to improve the food situation in the USSR. This backfired.
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#ColdWar #VirginLands #Khrushchev

[@TheColdWarTV]

Play World of Warships here: wo.ws/3eUIQRY Thank World of Warships for sponsoring this video. During registration use the code BOOM to get for free: 200 doubloons, 2 ships: St. Louis and Premium ship Emden, 20x Restless Fire Camouflage, 2,5 million credits, 7 Days of Premium. The promo code is only for new players during the registration.

[@FirstNameLastName-tg3rc]

2:47 A Vozhd!

[@percamihai-marco7157]

Maybe you will talk about Lake Aral tragedy

[@FirstNameLastName-tg3rc]

@@percamihai-marco7157 Have you ever heard of the tragedy of Lake Aral the non-existent at this point?

[@OffGridInvestor]

@@percamihai-marco7157 that REALLY RELATES to the Virgin lands.

[@annpeerkat2020]

what do you think about on-line gambling for children (the world of warships model) ... where apart from being gambling, loot boxes don't even disclose the incredibly poor odds?

[@petrosdorizas6814]

The trouble with the Corn War is that it doesn't take long before it goes pop.

[@ArkadiBolschek]

_Кто-нибудь даст этому человеку медаль!_

[@wasimshaikh1665]

KGB enters the chat.

[@ArkadiBolschek]

@@wasimshaikh1665 КГБ хочет знать ваше местонахождение...

[@theoutlook55]

😜

[@Pavlos_Charalambous]

😂😂😂😂

[@nicbahtin4774]

Mark my words, if he named it the Chad Land Campaign he would have succeeded

[@alejoserranobarbaran5223]

I see no failure in your logic

[@adude8424]

Had he named it Chad Land Campaign and import foreign worker from the country of Chad to work on the land, it might have save Soviet Union from dissolution due to its massive and strong agriculture economy.

[@OffGridInvestor]

Virgin soil/land has the meaning today. It means it has never been actively cultivated and farmed before.

[@valorwarrior7628]

@@OffGridInvestor it's a meme tho 🤣🤣

[@mojewjewjew4420]

@@OffGridInvestor R/woooooooshhhh

[@johngezon1220]

“The way he looks at corn” man that good me good lmao 😂

[@greenkoopa]

Got 🦕

[@ericvulgate]

"i'm gonna eat you!"

[@hansreiner1637]

Nikita Khrushchev, The Funni Corn Man

[@ericrohe291]

The Virgin Lands vs the chad khrushchev

[@luisfelipegoncalves4977]

But in the end, the lands were the true chads

[@augustuseuropa410]

LOL amazing

[@matthewtuckman4447]

@@luisfelipegoncalves4977 maybe Russia would be better if Krushchev never came to power but maybe Beria or Malenkov instead

[@readisgooddewaterkant7890]

@@degamispoudegamis better tahn braznev

[@darknessnight1115]

"Yields 120% crop surplus without ever seeing a modern tractor"

[@ethanpf449]

RIP Khrushchev, you would have loved Iowa

[@sebastiantrifa5820]

He did actually love Iowa. This whole thing happened because he went on a state visit to the US and saw the cornfields in the Midwest.

[@joeblow9657]

He probably would've also really liked Ohio to an extent

[@louvendran7273]

Neither did he go to the Orange Free State in South Africa. LOL. The African savanna is excellent for maize production.

[@fishhelmet1]

@@joeblow9657 no one loves Ohio

[@shutout951]

​@@joeblow9657 nice try lol. there's nothing to like about Ohio

[@Rakiratvian1999]

Fun fact: Kolhozs' that were designated to grow corn, but the climate and land was unsuitable, grew the corn only around the perimeter, and in the inside grew regular crops like wheat etc.

[@jwenting]

yes. And then there weren't enough trucks to transport the harvest even if there were enough people and machines to harvest it. So the crops rotted in the fields, and in the warehouses, and what didn't rot was spoiled by rats and mice. I've read estimates that some years only 25% of the potential harvest actually made it to consumers, the rest went to waste because of infrastructure deficiencies.

[@arthas640]

@@jwenting that sounds like the USSR

[@jeffbrewer1580]

Makes you wonder if the us and ussr weren't in a giant dick measuring contest how much better people's lives would be. Some of these problems could have been solved by trade with each other

[@Einwetok]

@@jeffbrewer1580They did. Exports of Corn from US jumped from 1964 to about 1984, then China took over. This is when you start hearing about US farmers getting payed to plow over or burn their harvests, because our government couldn't keep prices up anymore.

[@louvendran7273]

@@jeffbrewer1580 It was and the irony was that the people who they supposedly represented lost out. In the US, the corn farmers have become rich through fixed prices and subsidies from government. Consumers lost out by paying higher prices. Moreover wholesalers could control prices by controlling supply. The long and the short is that the free market does not exist. Capitalism leads to accumulation of capital which leads to oligopolies in the long run. In a controlled autocratic economy where a megalomaniac has a hunch and sticks with it can be disastrous as is in this case and Mao's great leap forward. "Communism" never worked out because the very institution it claimed to represent the, proletariat were exploited just as badly as the Tzar. It was never Marxism but a substitution of Tzarist Russia with the "Communist Party". Eventually glasnost failed because the damage was too far gone. The vacuum allowed another dictator to grab power as populice do not know any better. Similarly in the US with the USSR going belly up there was no incentive for the elites to share their loot. The CCP promised low wages and taxes to their operations so they moved most of it there at the expense of the populice leading to a diminished standard of living to the US populice and increased income and wealth for them and their crony politicians. Good fun to watch from the sidelines and crap if you're playing the game.

[@eetutorri8767]

Okay, I can use this kasku (short funny tale): One day, local farmers tractor broke down and as he was wondering what to do, local party representative came in with cart pulled by horses and wrench in hand. But instead of repairing it, he started to dismantle it, throwing bits and pieces on to the cart. - What are you doing, said the farmer - I was ordered to sent every free, available machinery to assist. - But its broken! - They didn't aks it to be working one. - How I am supposed to work the land then? - You should get replacement tractor tomorrow. - Why don't you just sent that replacement and have this fixed before days end then? - Because it would seem I don't work enough! If I just redirect it I don't really can't be credited but if I sent this one and short while after the replacement tractor it will look good in my reports. - But in the end I will be left with no tractor then! - No, this is the best part! After sending those 2 tractors they will send 3rd one to replace those already contributed but the season will be over and you will have no need for tractor.

[@karlbrundage7472]

It's like the apocryphal story of the forge-workers pulling a wagon with a 50' nail on it. A passerby asked one of the workers what such a gigantic nail is used for, to which the worker replied "I don't know, but it fulfils our quota of 20 tons of nails per month".................

[@Saunakiuas06]

This reminds me of couple of jokes from my history book: -Two border guards watch berlin wall. One of them asks what other is thinking. He answers that he thinks same as asker, to which latter answers: "If that's the case, I'm afraid that I have to arrest you." The next one is from 90s, when there was shortage of goods in USSR, and people traveled hundreds of kilometers to get meat and other food. -What is green, long and smells like sausage? Train to Moscow.

[@Neolazaro91]

Ah, a documentary about the Virgin lands! That explains the cameras at my place last month

[@elektrotehnik94]

Can we get this man more likes?

[@BlueTyphoon2017]

I don’t get it.

[@franek.97]

Heh, comunnist solutions state to state are very similar... I remember in my midle shool here in Poland at geography lesson our teatcher ask us "do you know why we got a sugar rifinery in our county?" We didint know so he give us short, but quite funy story, how a frist secretary of Polish United Workers Party had visid our town once. He look on the empty feeld (local officials wana to build out there new factory so the took him on sit) and litearly said "we gone build out here a big sugar rifinery". Local officials had tried to persvade him that soil is not siuted, and nowher in area nobody in state or private farms, have knowlage or expieirnce to grow sugar beets... Secretary just look in the ground like he ben thinking for a brief momentand finnal said whit strong voice ton: "they gonna lern"

[@andersonandrighi4539]

This is not just a Communist issue. Never in history be it a King, Emperor or Sultan. Any leader whatsoever who tries to cultivate land by force using a single crop worked. People think farmers are simpletons. They hold, exceptions occur, a deep knowledge of the land and how to produce food.

[@arthas640]

Idk the US has done pretty well with their endless fields of corn and soy beans. The Dust Bowl was pretty much the only hiccup

[@Fattybryce]

People HUGELY underestimate the science and knowledge that farming requires. They don't see all the testing, the math and everything that goes into producing agriculture goods. I'd argue it's far easier to produce something in a factory than it is to go farming these days.

[@andersonandrighi4539]

@@Fattybryce true!

[@paulludwigewaldvonkleist4039]

@@arthas640 Our latest projection shows that the overall food insecurity rates rose sharply, from 10.9% in 2019 to 13.9% in 2020. In terms of people, that means a rise from 35.2 million food insecure Americans in 2019 to 45 million in 2020. theconversation.com/the-pandemic-recession-has-pushed-a-further-9-8-million-americans-into-food-insecurity-157016

[@Mae_Dastardly]

Finally someone said it

[@Dutch_Uncle]

Comrade K's buddy Garst was in Iowa, a place with deep black soil (chernozem), well watered and well drained, with temperate climate. He should have gone to western Kansas or Montana and looked at corn growing conditons there. He could also have gone to Oklahoma and learned about the Dust Bowl of the 1920-30s, when grassland was used for wheat in resonse to WWI needs for grain, and how that resulted in disaster when the normal dry weather returned, and the moisture accumulated over many years was exhausted by the first couple of crops.

[@UshankaShow]

Rain was supposed to follow the plow

[@Einwetok]

That's good old Russian nihilism at work.

[@MarcosKtulu]

If one of the plan's goal was to cease the virgin lands' virginity, then it was certainly achieved. Kruschev was indeed corny.

[@gantulgaganhuyag717]

Virgin lands campagne destroyed millions of hectares of grazing land for cattle in Mongolia which we are still having to live with because the steppe ecosystem is so fragile once turned over, it just became a dry sands and now deserts creeping into northern mongolia

[@CanalTremocos]

Oh man, I own land like that. Some joker in an office thought it was a good idea to plow deeper than the grazing land depth and turned a perfectly fine grazing hill into a pile of rocks. Luckily our local indigenous ecosystem is holm forest, so we planted it and in 100 years it will probably be back as it was at the start. The folly of men.

[@buddyrojek9417]

Same in Australia, now we plant trees to stop winds

[@adm7038]

I ask this question out of genuine curiosity. Does Mongolia hope to retrieve “Inner Mongolia” from China some day? Or have Mongols given up on that land? I’m Indian.

[@bakerzermatt]

I actually once met an old kolkhos manager who remembered the Khrushchev days. This was in the north of European Russia, near Vel'sk. He said that the corn only grew to be 20cm tall, but that some people managed to get them to 60cm by growing it in their homes :-D.

[@HistoryOfRevolutions]

"Idealism is the despot of thought, just as politics is the despot of will" - Mikhail Bakunin

[@joelmalone7922]

Instead of corn they should've grown crops like winter wheat, turnips, and parsnips, all renowned for their heartiness in a cold climate. They also could've used the tall grass covered steppe for cow and sheep grazing, therefore increasing the much needed meat and dairy. Also, building silos, barracks at the least, and barns would've helped.

[@kanatzhumagulov8910]

Yes that campaign changed Kazakhstan forever. For good or for bad. There was a time when local Kazakhs were less than 50% in the republic.

[@geedon1]

“Voluntold” has me chuckling quite a bit.. hehe

[@ekmalsukarno2302]

If the Soviet Union launched a Virgin Lands Campaign, did it also launch a Chad Seas Campaign?

[@user-df1ek5rc1h]

That Chad Sea is called the Aral Sea

[@Rabarbarzynca]

You can say that, they have built full scale Blue Sea fleet in 60-ties and 70-ties.

[@greenkoopa]

@@user-df1ek5rc1h sea, desert. Same thing

[@igorsmihailovs52]

@@user-df1ek5rc1h Nice one!!!

[@mapmuncher5587]

No they launches the Chad Space champaign. lol

[@danielemilazzo84]

I can swear that in the last phrase I heard "the problem with the CORN WAR" 😂🌽

[@nicbahtin4774]

2:20 he is called man of steel not man of food what else do you expect

[@Tonyx.yt.]

food is just a luxury of decadent bourgeois societies

[@TheRealUnconnected]

ooft i am early - been loving this series, insane breadth of coverage on basically the entire 20th century. Can't wait till you get to the 70s 80s and downfall.

[@Patrick_3751]

I'm curious, does anyone know if there were any tracts of Virgin Lands that became productive or suitable farmland because of the campaign?

[@ruturajshiralkar5566]

In Kazakhstan.

[@ShinyaMerveilles66]

arguably uzbekistan too but thats for cotton......... if youre ok with draining a lake the size of texas to do it

[@oldesertguy9616]

I remember when my wife used to look at me like Nikita looked at corn...

[@opuntian]

Lucky guy. 🤣😜👍

[@dictatorofcanada4238]

Used to? 😢

[@jtsnowman66]

It's just that we are putting the new cover sheets on all TPS reports BEFORE they go out now... I'll make sure you guys get another copy of that memo.

[@brokenbridge6316]

Khrushchev liked corn. Never would've guessed. My compliments to all those who made this video a reality.

[@rosswebster7877]

Well done as always Cold War and K&G crew! You got me now watching this channel the way Khrushchev looks at corn!

[@Marinealver]

Sealed Letter 1: Blame Everything On Me Sealed Letter 2: Write Two Letters For Your Successor and Seal Them

[@mishapurser4439]

I just checked if there were brands of vodka made from corn and I was not disappointed

[@aaronjones8905]

The Aral Sea sends its regards. RIP.

[@KaliChernenkov]

a "corn research institute" must have been teeming with loads of new data and constant research because nothing is as intricate, multifaceted and layered as a good ol simple cob of corn, seriously an entire research facility dedicated to corn, as versatile as corn is I don't think an entire research facility is warranted

[@iumbo1234]

Will be there a video about OGAS?

[@tompegorinno5141]

Thanks for showing another Khrushchev content!!

[@ColdHighway7]

The picture of Khrushchev looking at the piece of corn will never be not funny to me

[@ryanstewart3640]

Loved the office space reference

[@NUZICASTLE]

Great video as always , I was wondering wether you’re going to make a video about algerian war of independence or not .....

[@TheColdWarTV]

absolutely.

[@kocovgoce]

The Bolsheviks made a similar attempt in the 1920s somewhere around the Caspian Gate between Russia and Kazakhstan. But the problem was that since they dug up the grass, the whole region had turned into a desert but those old Soviet agronomic engineers died in Stalin's purges or in World War II, and this knowledge was lost that plants could not be planted in the steppes but cattle had to be kept instead.

[@lexington476]

I love growing corn in my garden 🙂.

[@PlayingWithFireOutdoors]

It's been noted you didn't use the new TPS cover sheet, I'll make sure I email it to you. Oh yes if you could come in Saturday at 8 that would be great.

[@Mrgunsngear]

Thanks

[@patrickdegenaar9495]

Fascinating!

[@Kornilovite]

How much were Khrushchev’s agricultural policies influenced by his belief in Lysenkoism?

[@josephahner3031]

This is a good question.

[@______608]

Yeah, that was a question in the back of my mind as well

[@twistedyogert]

I don't know much about Nikita Kruschev as a person but I do know one thing. He thought corn was a-maize-ing.

[@bmp456]

Virgin Lands? Is that like a farm for Discord Mods?

[@Ukraine_edits]

He did really love corn

[@01296501923654]

Reminds me of the British post-war groundnuts scheme, an all-around terrible plan to grow massive amounts of peanuts in Tanzanian virgin lands, which accomplished very little beyond expending British resources.

[@nicholaskelly6375]

People Person. I immediately thought of the parallels with the 'Groundnuts Scheme'.

[@miguelpalomares3441]

Get yourself a man that looks you the way Khruschev looked at that corn

[@davidp.7620]

Where can I get that background music? It's awesome!

[@JoeSmith-sl9bq]

Never made sense to me how Soviets, with so much good land, had starvation. After it’s collapse people were dying from hunger in Moscow but all around the city there were miles and miles of unused land, as if they preferred to starve over planting some potatoes.

[@brandonlyon730]

Keep in mind a lot of that land is filled with endless forests or frozen tundra that is inflicted with Permafrost so its problematic to grow certain things to begin with even in warmer months. Of course the Soviet Government didn’t help matters when there was a surplus of food and they rather trade it with other nations than redistributed with the people, or Stalin's case deliberate starvation because of his own mad paranoia.

[@JoeSmith-sl9bq]

I understand the starvation right after the awful civil war and in the 40ies but it made no sense to starve in the peaceful years after WW2. As of the inhospitable terrain issue, before the USSR Siberia was the largest producer of butter in the world, thanks to some Danish specialists who settled there and started production. So that land could definitely be used for something.

[@andersonandrighi4539]

Potatoes are great for that type of land but there is a strong need to diversify crops. Farming in those lands require a less intensive type and planning should be around what farmers and agronomist know best. The main issue of the Soviet economy showed us its crack right there. Kruschev was no farmer but dictate his policy, I will say it as it was, his will despite not knowing how to work in the land. When this channel hits Cuba the same problem will appear as Castro tries to increase Cuba's Sugar production to a record high. Leaders can lead people in their field of expertise, however great leaders know that delegating and listening to their Ministers (Secretary if you are American) is being humble enough not trying to outdone him/herself.

[@Einwetok]

@u666sa USSR probably tried to dump off some of that radioactive wool, leather and other stuff they kept harvesting after Chernobyl on them in the aid shipments.

[@Einwetok]

@u666sa Possibly without knowing, all that stuff went somewhere if they harvested it. I doubt anyone scanned or tested any of it once it was processed into goods. As for radiated scrap metal, that happened in the US on some shipments from Mexico.

[@gamiezion]

just for the record: the WoWs cutomization is basically 2 (sometimes 3) different options for: hull, main gun range, torpedo range/damage and the main drive train. 1 of which is always going to be better then the other. besides that there's camo which is basically just a stat booster and a way for wargaming to cash grab. and out of everything you can say about carriers.... damage dealers they are not, that's down to the cruisers.

[@piratelife6343]

Fascinating

[@boyd21]

Great video. One question what is a hectare

[@maxiona714]

Khrushchev is one of the few soviet leaders I don't hate. I mean, he was actually pretty based ngl. First is of course Gorbi - thanks for allowing the unification of my fatherland.🇩🇪

[@prathamsingh1481]

Why does the USSR always shoot itself in the foot, like damn, so much potential wasted.

[@arthas640]

That's communism. A bad idea comes out, no one wants to go again their leader/party so they just keep going even after the problems pop up. The fact that underlings are forced to exaggerate their performance to meet unrealistic goals means the guys at the top domt know what's really going on so they tend to take on more then they can handle because everyone below them agrees with whatever they say and the underlings keep claiming to be able to do far more then they're actually doing. There were some mines that claimed a single miner with a puckaxe could mine 10 tons of material or more a day when they couldnt do 10% of what they claimed. The USSR basically tried to do what they US did in the midwest and west but they were arrogant and thought they could do in one 5 year plan what took the US decades

[@UshankaShow]

The US had similar problem. Remember the "dust bowl"? Virgin lands were cultivated despite warnings from scientists like Powell. It was a popular belief that "rain follows the plow"

[@arthas640]

@@UshankaShow yeah but at least the US had the excuse of a poorer understanding of climate at the time and the areas had more natural irrigation with more rivers, lakes, and available wells. The US also had decades of farming on the area befor the dust bowl hit and later with some engineering they overcame the problems. Things like some dams and planting trees to break up winds, trap moisture, and prevent river banks washing away were enough to prevent future dust bowls. The area also has always had alot of farming going back to pre european contact whereas the Soviet lands were traditionally grazing land for cattle before large scale agriculture. The land the Soviets were developing had less available moisture, worse winters, and less beneficial geography and even today many of those areas don't have much sustainable farming and have less profitable returns on their farming. Both do provide examples of why you should listen to experts and the Dust Bowl lead to agricultural science being a booming field in farming and even today alot of farmers go to school and have some college graduates on the payroll

[@joseaca1010]

Thats communism working as intended See in a capitalist society if some nutjob wants to harvest some corn, he has to invest his own cash, not the countrys resources, he cant force people to move to the new farms, he must offer inventives, and if everything fails, he will eventually run out of cash and limit how much damage he does, a communist government just keeps going and going, doubling down on the mistakes

[@ShinyaMerveilles66]

because the state directs resources to whatever goal they have in mind, it means that if the state deems it enough of a necessity, it wont waste time with considering every angle (not just whether the goal can be met but also any consequences, intentional or otherwise). this is magnified for the time period because not a whole lot of people considered "environmental concerns" when making decisions. every country has a problem of this type but the soviets are the most notorious because they dont perform due diligence before or after ( this is the same country that drained a gigantic lake to make land for cotton, made a lake with a nuke testing to see if you could use a nuke for construction projects, made a literal gate to hell in the desert, built an island to test anthrax located in the same lake they drained for cotton, dumped millions of tons of nucelar waste in a lake thats known to dry out in hot enough summers, etc)

[@vanodne]

Just a friendly suggestion: ease up on the background music...like, a lot! It's distracting and overly dramatic given the subject matter.

[@atari2600b]

When you really need Tractor Driver but he was killed by Stalin

[@mrlarry271]

Don't settle. Find someone who looks at you the way Nikita looks at corn. 🌽 My 5 star comic relief for today. 😅

[@JenniferinIllinois]

My bell button is surrounded by corn and I can't find it.

[@adhdoggo9614]

Khrushchev was cool. Decent enough.

[@pielero70]

I've really enjoyed your videos as a Cold War buff. Many years ago I heard Khrushchev instigated large bomb fires next to certain crops such as corn. Seems absurd keeping large fires burning at night and early morning hours. Are any of these claims true?

[@VladimirTolskiy]

very accurate

[@Mike-tg7dj]

Food security is always a society's first objective. It happend then and it's occurring today with the shortages. Corn, contrary to belief doesn't dwell in many places. It requires a lot of resources and will use up all the nutrients in the soil. This also began the environmental disaster that was the Aral Sea disappearing and now a disaster.

[@cowsmuggler1646]

It requires more because it gives you more. You Comme's want to grow cheap potatoes and that makes everyone malnourished.

[@shauncameron8390]

@@cowsmuggler1646 It's a surprise that the USSR didn't suffer a potato famine like Ireland.

[@SeishintekiYangban]

tell me the name of Music you used in the video

[@ChristesII]

I'm finally caught up on these videos! Now what will I do with my life?

[@Numba003]

The overemphasis on corn aside, I can at least understand the logic behind this one if they had developed the necessary infrastructure, etc. to really try it. Thank you for another interesting video! Stay well out there everybody, and God bless you, friends. ✝️ :)

[@piotrmacc8793]

What is that music in background?

[@mlgerab]

So, could this have worked somehow or was it just a crazy idea from a strange old man? Was he on to something? There were some excellent crops in the beginning, so I guess it was possible?

[@winconfig]

Thanks for making this series I knew Communism wasn't as bad as The United States has said it was!

[@agentoskar6698]

The land expanse just cannot outweigh the bad technology .

[@Rabarbarzynca]

More like inherent ineffeciency of the communist system. Technology made whole plan possible, it’s the people and management that failed.

[@agentoskar6698]

@@Rabarbarzynca Yes, it was both the ineffeciency of the system and lidership plus the ineffeciency tehnology and infrastructure .

[@JoeSmith-sl9bq]

The efficiency was far inferior before the communists, that’s why the population exploded afterwards despite suffering civil war and the worst war in history (Axis invasion)

[@tomweickmann6414]

At first glance, corn doesn't seem illogical. Corn also produces corn oil thus making it more versatile. And a nice change of diet from constant bread and potatoes. Whatever you do comrade, don't run out of vodka!

[@douglassauvageau7262]

This campaign resembles the Homestead Act in early 19th Century America. Advanced investments in irrigation infrastructure seems a logical consideration.

[@douglassauvageau7262]

Hydroponics, Alternative-Energy, proliferation of wasted / re-usable plastics...

[@chad12345678]

Episode on the coup against khrushchev!

[@stalkerentertainment3671]

At least this didn't end in mass starvation and economic ruins, looking at you Mao with your "Great leap forward"!

[@theghostofspookwagen4715]

Can't believe Khruschev named such a massive project after my flat smh

[@turdferguson229]

Corn Pop was a good dude

[@aquilarossa5191]

Is Putin the new corn lord and more successful? Russia had to import a lot of food after 1991. A few years ago after all the sanctions they did some big reform in agriculture and have become a net exporter of food. GMO is banned there too for some reason. Not sure why. It was part of their domestication of supplies not only for food, but for as many things as possible, so as to be less vulnerable to the sanctions. It has only been four years or so, so we will have to see if the increased food supply success is enduring. I read that during famine the USA refused to sell them grain, so the considering the recent sanctions they might have that memory as part of the motivation.

[@Juanito_Peligroso]

Man the Steppe would be perfect for Potatoes, but with the water situation theres no much to grow but grass.

[@edwardgilmour9013]

This philosophy has resulted in the demise of the Aural Sea

[@1joshjosh1]

Whoever wrote that opening quote has never met rich western Canadian farmers. Bastards keep getting richer and richer and their farmland just keeps getting more expensive and more expensive. And the only one who can afford more farmland is farmers.

[@m2heavyindustries378]

Cool story bro

[@philthornton1382]

😂😂😂 those pesky skilled farmers

[@1joshjosh1]

@@philthornton1382 Yeah and even when their skills can't quite cut it there's always insurance.

[@shauncameron8390]

What about Ontario and Quebec farmers?

[@1joshjosh1]

@@shauncameron8390 Unknown to me. Probably a bit of the same.

[@StalinTheMan0fSteel]

Oh but you didn't discuss the disastrous effect on Soviet agricultural by men like such as Trofim Lysenko.

[@marouaniAymen]

ok, excellent video as usual, but hiw the USSR managed finally to secure food surplus ?

[@Tonyx.yt.]

no, they still had food deficit until the end. mostly and simply because farmers work for collective farms, were dirty poor (much more than urban workers), unmotivated and not getting more money if the succeded, indeed if a collective farm perform very poorly was put under state controll, so absolutly no incentive for better working, neither farmers nor factory workers and managers in the cities...

[@dickdudd9416]

They had 70 years of bad harvests due to bad weather until the USSR ceased to exist. Then the food production increased.

[@joelmalone7922]

Modern irrigation systems like those used in America and Western Europe at the time would've helped during the inevitable droughts that occured. Stalin's complete focus on heavy industry in my opinion, forever decreased the quality of life of the soviet people and would destroy the USSR in the end.

[@sayantanganguly581]

Where is the video on Novocherkassk Massacre?

[@TheRiskyBrothers]

I studied environmental science in university, and as much as we rag on extractive capitalism destroying the planet, extractive communism can be a lot worse. Ignoring inefficiencies also means ignoring environmental externalities, especially when you don't need to answer to your people in the same way western republics do. As it turns out, markets are reasonably good for encouraging efficiency in the production of consumer goods. They aren't perfect, as evidenced by markets consistently ignoring environmental costs after the product is competitive, but it's important to remember that there is a difference between making effective use of markets and worshiping them.

[@superduperfreakyDj]

As an environmental economist I have to correct you, capitalist markets are not able to effeciently distribute the goods. First, you should know the difference between efficiency and optimality. Secondly, you should know that it's too easy to say "just internalise environmental externalities". Internalising them implies being able to value (and potentially market) the environment, we are almost incapable of that because of a severe lack of information on both the consumer and the producer's part. This is bad because perfect information is one of the key assumptions in order for market models to work.

[@petebondurant58]

@@superduperfreakyDj You have wasted your education, Comrade Hip Hop Communist.

[@superduperfreakyDj]

@@petebondurant58 Hahahaha, "wasted my education" tell that to the professors at my faculty

[@petebondurant58]

@@superduperfreakyDj What are professors? Am I supposed to be impressed with what glorified school teachers think, say or do?

[@superduperfreakyDj]

@@petebondurant58 HAHAHA glorified school teachers??? Do you know what a professor does? How old are you exactly?

[@ruturajshiralkar5566]

Nikita Khruschev = THE CORN-MAN

[@Felixxxxxxxxx]

The corn crops used were modified by Norman Borlaug from the US to deal with tougher weather. The Virgin Lands Campaign would have been even less successful if not for this great humanitarian.

[@felixdzerzhinsky9926]

everybody loves corn

[@CDNShuffle]

can u do cold war south africa with the political parties

[@oldfarmshow]

👍👍

[@nielsifly]

Where did the pretty portraits of current leaders go? :'-(

[@sebastiennanipou2850]

The uncountable numbers of time he says "but"! I expected more optimistic

[@Poopdahoop]

what a fantastic ask for a like on a video omg i love it

[@anngo4140]

I read "virgin island" for some reason

[@williamchamberlain2263]

That's Richard Branson's place, isn't it?

[@nikitachirich7985]

Fun fact the GULAG resettlement committee of the KPSS relocated 1,200,000 ethnic Kazakhs and other minorities to the new arable land project for SOVKHOZ farming initiative in 1952. So much for De-Stalinization.

[@jamieshields9521]

Interesting piece of history👍there old saying Rome wasn’t built in one day but better studies in Agriculture improvement would be great start as shut USSR people from rest of the world didn’t help. Having tractor dealership close buy to deal with break downs or well equipped farm workshops would have help but look how Australians run animals/cropping farms instead of spying, but seed technology n planting has change yields for us in last 20 years. Unfortunately you have crawl before you walk.

[@ruturajshiralkar5566]

Nikki & the Corn Meow & the Mango Dolfy & the Veggies Losif & the Vodka

[@RMRanalysis]

What are you looking at? That seems a strange aspect.

[@s4098429]

But how do we know if any of the Soviet statistics were truthful? They had very little reason to be honest with their superiors, even less so with the public.

[@w.d.g.]

Yum. Popcorn.