1. KHRUSHCHEV’S AGRICULTURAL REFORMS Collective farms were made larger 121 000 Kolkhoz became 44 000 between 1950 and 1960 Higher prices were paid for produce in order to reduce rural poverty MTS came under the control of the Agriculture ministry National initiatives including the Virgin Land Campaigns Village life affected after the campaign against the Orthodox Church after 1957

2. THE VIRGIN LAND CAMPAIGN One of Khrushchev’s most famous policies, it intended to transform agricultural production by cultivating unused land in Kazakhstan, Siberia, and the lower Volga regions 500 000 farmers and workers were allotted to introduce theses changes Cultivation was boosted in the short term, but in the long term, soils could not support crops and the infrastructure could not support development. Famine struck in 1963, further evidence of the failure of the policy.

3. SUCCESSES AND FAILURES Khrushchev sympathised with the farmers and visited them regularly Standards of living improved and the roads became better Production rose and peasant consumption of consumer goods increased Comparisons could be made directly with the 1920s and the period before the First World War Khrushchev’s policies were akin to those of Stalin and his big ideas of central planning, especially in agriculture and industry

5. Investment was needed in transport instead of farming where it was directed Khrushchev’s critics saw the failures in agriculture as evidence of his failures as a ruler. A gap still existed between the rural and urban income Benefits of pensions, social security, housing, travel, and access to cultural opportunities remained unequal between town and country