The issue of development of agricultural enterprises in the Yamal-Nenets national district in 1938–1945 in the context of the work of the Salekhard dairy and vegetable state farm

The objective of the publication presented is to study the history of the formation and development of agriculture in the Far North of the USSR based on materials on the activities of the Salekhard dairy and vegetable state farm. The source base for this publication was the data provided by the State Archives of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District and the State Archives of the Russian Federation. The chronological framework of the study covers the pre-war years and the period of the Great Patriotic War. This enterprise was engaged in the production and supply of vegetables, meat and milk for the residents of the city of Salekhard, and also sold pedigreed and scrub cattle to the collective farms of the Yamal-Nenets National District. The mobilization model for the development of Russian society was applied as the methodological basis. The study involved general scientific methods, namely, analysis and synthesis, deduction and induction, and also used special historical methods, like comparative historical and chronological approaches. Working with archival materials revealed the information about the activities of the state farm during the study period in regards to organizing the production of food and feed products in the Far North; ways to provide personnel capable of engaging in polar agriculture and animal husbandry in severe climatic conditions; the volume of sown areas and gross productivity of various agricultural crops; the success of production leaders, including in the Union Socialist Competition. Based on the results of the study, the author concluded that in the period under review, the work of the state farm was aimed at developing two specific sectors of agriculture - vegetable growing and livestock. The organization and operation of the state farm was complicated, with annual losses. The development of virgin lands allocated to the state farm was an expensive and rather labor-intensive undertaking. The Salekhard state farm was considered a rather large-scale enterprise in the region, obtaining its own material base. Apartments and houses were given to the staff, and during the war years, a sewing workshop and dining room were set up on the state farm territory. However, working conditions remained heavy. Despite all the difficulties, the personnel of the state farm actively participated in the socialist competition; the enterprise was twice awarded the Red Banner of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions and the People's Commissariat of State Farms. The authors declare no conflicts of interests.

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