Problems of economic effi ciency of state farms in 1940–1952 (based on materials of declassifi ed archive materials)

Abstract

The article, based on archival sources that have been under the heading of secrecy for many years, analyzes the problems of economic efficiency of Soviet farms (state farms) in the first years after the end of World War II. The huge human and material losses suff ered by agriculture predetermined the diffi culties of the restoration period. Analysis of various statistics showed the following results. The yield of feed, technical and grain crops grew weakly, it was not possible to significantly increase the number of livestock. The increase in wages on state farms was not accompanied by an increase in labor productivity. Despite the improvement in the technical equipment of state farms, it was not possible to achieve the application of the achievements of agronomic science; signifi cant losses were observed in harvesting. The existing system of pricing agricultural products gave rise to a significant difference in the planned and actual cost, which, in turn, exceeded government prices. The most important mechanism for eliminating this discrepancy was the subsidy of state farms at the expense of budgets of different levels. More than 80 % of agricultural enterprises were on state subsidies, of which about 60% of farms had losses that could not even compensate for the allocated funds. At the same time, the state received economic benefi ts from the activities of state farms. The funds allocated to finance the activities of state farms were half as much as the state gained from the sale of agricultural products. Despite certain successes in agricultural production, state farms were unable by the beginning of the 1950-ies to increase labor productivity, significantly increase yields and multiply livestock, actively implement the achievements of agronomic science and rationally use technology.