Gelatin silver print
11" x 14" 
 
 
Twenty-five million people worked 50,000 farms in the Soviet Union. Before the 1990's laws allowing private and leased farming, agriculture was practiced on either sovkhozy, state farms, or kolkhozy, collective farms. All other farming was technically illegal, but tolerated as necessary to feed the cities. State farms employed salaried workers, had appointed managers, and got first choice of new equipment and fertilizers. Collective farms were--in theory--voluntary associations of individual farmers who pooled their land and resources, elected managers, and divided profits. Kaplanbek Sariagash Sovkhoz, Sariagash, Kazakhstan. December 1992.
 
 
Sherpard Sherbell