State Farms in the Arkhangelsk Region in 1946–1950 (According to Consolidated Annual Reports)

Abstract

Based on the materials from the Russian State Archives of Economics, the article examines the condition of the material and technical resource base and the agricultural production on the state farms of the Arkhangelsk Region in 1946–1950. It is pointed out that the activity of state farms has never attracted much attention from researchers (unlike collective farms), which is why the historiography of this problem is very sparse. Until the 1960s, state farms did not constitute serious competition to collective farms and household plots in agricultural production. The paper provides dynamic data on the material and technical resource base of state farms, on the situation in agriculture and animal husbandry, delivery of agricultural products to the state, and role of state farms in agricultural production. The authors emphasize that during the Great Patriotic War, both the number of state farms themselves and their resource base decreased. In addition to the war, the region’s agriculture suffered heavy losses from extremely unfavourable weather events of 1946 and 1947. It is argued that the production and technical resource base of the state farms in the Arkhangelsk Region during the period under study was quite modest; nevertheless, the yield of grain and potatoes exceeded the nationwide numbers. When it comes to livestock farming, milk yield remained at a satisfactory level. The authors draw a conclusion that state farms played a rather insignificant role in the agricultural sector of the region.