Agriculture in the United States and Russia: A Comparative Study of Natural Conditions

Abstract

N a paper published in the January number of this journal' a comparison was made of the potential capacity of the United States and Russia in the production of the kind of wheat that enters largely into the world's wheat market. It was shown that the geographic environments favorable to the production of this kind of wheat are confined to certain parts of each country and that in neither country can such wheat be grown throughout its area. It was shown that the United States and Russia both contain large areas of suitable land but that the area in Russia is much greater than that in the United States. It would now seem desirable to compare the two countries in their potential capacity to produce other crops than wheat. The production of a few crops, even though the quantity produced may be great, does not promote the development of the varied and complex social and economic conditions characteristic of the most highly civilized of the great countries of modern times. Both the United States and Russia taken as a whole are, unlike the countries of western Europe, dominantly continental rather than maritime. The influence of a maritime situation has long been the subject of discussion by geographers: the great continental areas have received less attention. Clearly the importance of the maritime region is due more to a favoring influence on commerce than on the production of commodities. While maritime regions cannot be neglected as producers of commodities, the history of the last half century has shown the capacity of the great continental areas to produce the staple agricultural products that are required by man in large quantity and that in turn demand large areas and productive soils.