collectivisation

• • stalin split all the places the Soviet Union ran into zones
  • he set all these zones a target they needed to reach
  • he gave them all different things they needed to farm
• it was vey hard for the zones to reach the targets set in a year as they didn't have the right conditions but if they didn't hit these targets then they wouldn't get any help the next year. because of they 6 million people died
• state of agriculture 


  the remainder of land that was taken from all owners of estates larger than 250 acres
• • land reforms faced the problem that agriculture was dominated by small landholdings which were too small to survive independently let alone make a profit
  • so by 1948 crop and livestock yields had fallen dramatically meaning farmers were moving to the cities for work or to the west
• by 1952 the SED leadership was so concerned about the difficulties with food supplies that it decided to start introducing voluntary collectivisation through the creation of agricultural production co-operatives called LPGs
• the introduction of the LPGs meant that collectivisation actually proceeded slowly and its initial progress wasn't a success as in 1953 13% of all agricultural land was not being farmed which contributed to the number of refugees to the west so a second round of collectivisation had to take place
• short term consequences

  • many experienced farmers left for the west
  • in part this was why the Berlin Wall was built
  • food production fell rapidly and a long way
  • rationing was reintroduced in 1961
• long term impacts

  • by 1962 85% of farms collectivised from 3%
  • the ideological aim of collectivisation was achieved
  • agriculture did improve and become more effective in part due to economies of scale