Agricultural production in the state farms of the Sverdlovsk Region in 1945–1953

The relevance of the article is due to the enduring interest shown by Russian society in the historical period studied in the article. The purpose of writing the work was to study the dynamics of the development of crop and livestock industries in state farms of the Sverdlovsk region in 1945–1953. The novelty of the study is ensured by the use of materials from two leading federal archives and one regional one. The authors state that the Great Patriotic War dealt a powerful blow to the region's agriculture, and it was possible to avoid mass starvation only with the help of comprehensive and large-scale development of vegetable gardening. Attention is focused on the fact that major shortcomings in the work of Soviet farms were the presence of excessive specialization and the one-sided focus of their activities, which led to excessive labor stress during field work and significant underutilization of the labor force during the rest of the year. It is concluded that in the years under consideration the state sector (in which state farms played a leading role) played an insignificant role in agriculture in the Sverdlovsk region.