Agriculture of Novosibirsk Oblast in the 1980s and Early 1990s: Development and Reform Problems

Abstract

The research reveals the peculiarities of agricultural development in the Novosibirsk region at the late Soviet stage in order to find out concrete and reliable ideas about the causes, progress and consequences of agrarian reform of the early 1990s. We analyzed the changes in the organizational, economic and sectoral structure of the industry, the problems of the functioning of the collective farm and state farm system and the implementation of measures in the region to resolve them, factors that contributed to the growth and decline of agricultural production are analyzed. The content, directions and some economic consequences of the implementation of the agrarian reform of 1990 in the Novosibirsk region. In the 1980s the agro-industrial complex of the region developed due to the specialization and concentration of production, inter-farm cooperation of collective and state farms, their integration with industrial and trade organizations. The production of pork, poultry, eggs grew, and the gross grain harvest increased. The factors in the development of agriculture were the use of intensive technologies and favorable weather conditions. For agriculture in the Novosibirsk Region, the eleventh five-year plan (1981-1985) began with two consecutive lean years. The years of the twelfth five-year plan (1986-1990) were generally more productive. Agriculture did not meet the growing demand of the population for food. The material and technical resources of the industry have been largely wasted. Collective and state farm workers did not see any sense in increasing production productivity and sought to move to cities that attracted them with a higher standard of living. Attempts to improve the situation by democratizing management system in collective and state farms and by means of incentives for personal subsidiary plots did not produced desired results. The development of contractor relations in collective and state farms, rural settlements and the production base of farms looked like a more promising direction in the evolution of the agrarian sector of the economy. In 1990, due to the low growth rates of agricultural production, the government launched an agrarian reform, which opened the way for further development of the socio-economic infrastructure of the village, multi-structure and market. However, radical reformers insisted on forced transition to market relations and cut of state aid to producers. The implementation of these policies has led to negative consequences.