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CHAPTER 1 Introduction: climate and agriculture in Russia When analyzing the development of Soviet agriculture it should be borne in mind that Russia is comparatively poorly endowed in terms of agricultural land and climate and that, under any system of farming, agricultural productivity would be appreciably lower than, for example, that of the United States or Western Europe. Russian farming is characterized by its extreme northerly location. The center of Russia lies at roughly the same latitude as Hudson Bay, and St. Petersburg is actually at the same latitude as southern Alaska. Western European countries, although at the same latitude as some parts of Russia, have an unusually temperate climate for their latitude due to the influence of the Gulf Stream. According to the Köppen (Parker, 1972) climate classification system , the most typical climate in the USSR is “humid continental,” marked by at least some (but sometimes not much) precipitation all year round but with cool summers and cold winters. This type of climate is characteristic for 31 percent of the USSR. By way of comparison , this same type of climate can be found only in small parts of Alaska in the USA. The most typical climate in the USA is “humid temperate,” characterized by rain all year round with hot summers and mild winters. This type of climate is characteristic for 34 percent of the land area in the USA, but is found in only 0.5 percent of the USSR in an area along the Black Sea coast (Parker, 1972). Thermal and moisture regimes determine the potential of the country for agriculture. The thermal condition of the USSR is unfavorable from this point of view. Eighty percent of Soviet cropland falls within the “least productive thermal zone,” the respective proportion for the United States being just 19 percent. On the other hand, the United States has 32 percent of its cropland in the most favorable thermal zone, while the Soviet Union has only 4 percent. The USSR is also unfavorably placed in regard to agricultural moisture. Its continental position means Climate Dependence and Food Problems in Russia, 1900–1990 a low rainfall generally and a more restricted water supply. It has no extensive humid areas corresponding to the American east, southeast and northwest regions, into which moist oceanic air is drawn without impediment. As a result, the average annual precipitation over the United States (782 mm) is much higher than that for the Soviet Union (490 mm) (Field, 1968). Also, according to Gatrell (1986), only 1.4 percent of the land suitable for cereal cultivation was located in an area of optimum combination of temperature and moisture in the USSR. In the United States, the same optimum climate condition was found for 56 percent of its cropland. In Russia, about four-fifths of cropland lay in a zone of risky agriculture, while for the United States only one-fifth of cropland could be regarded as located in that zone. Climatic conditions determine agriculture in relation to crop composition , productivity, and fluctuations in yields. In terms of crop composition there is a big difference between the USSR and Western countries . Most of the territory of the USSR is so cold that only hardy, earlymaturing crops can be grown. The country is also characterized by great variability in terms of the first and last occurrence of frost (White, 1987). Frost limits the length of the growing season, and the lack of days over 20 degrees centigrade restricts the range of crops. The growing season, essentially the period free from killing frost, is only 130 to 160 days long in the Black Earth region, famous for its rich soils. In the central regions of European Russia, the growing season only lasts between 110 and 130 days. Further to the north, the growing season could be shorter than 110 days (Arkhangelsk oblast). The south of European Russia, which is the major agricultural region (the North Caucasus and Volga basin), is characterized by a growing period of 165 to 200 days. In the steppe regions of Western Siberia, the growing season decreases to between 115 and 130 days (Khomyakov et al., 2001). The growing season everywhere in the Russian Federation is considerably shorter than in Western Europe (260 to 300 days). In the USSR, the most important food crop was wheat, which was planted on more than 50 percent of the cereal-crop area in the 1960s and 1970s. In comparison with most cereals of the moderate zone, wheat is very vulnerable...

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