Comments on "A U.S. Farmer's Views on Soviet Agricultural Problems"
(August 2, 1962)
Comrade Shangkun[1]:
This document[2] should be distributed to the comrades[3] currently attending the meeting.
Mao Zedong
August 2
[1] Shangkun refers to Yang Shangkun, who was then alternate secretary of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and director of the General Office of the Central Committee.
[2] This refers to the article "A U.S. Farmer's Views on Soviet Agricultural Problems." The article introduced an interview with Garst, a farmer from Iowa, conducted by a reporter from the magazine U.S. News & World Report and published in its April 2, 1962 issue. Garst had visited the Soviet Union three times. In 1959, Khrushchev visited his farm in the United States. According to the interview, Garst believed that the most fundamental problem in Soviet agriculture was that they did not begin making substantial investments in agriculture until 1955. Soviet agriculture in 1955 roughly corresponded to the level reached by U.S. agriculture in 1930. Khrushchev's real problem was that he had grossly underestimated the amount of capital required for modern agriculture. Another fundamental problem was that the Soviet Union lacked a transportation network comparable to that of the United States. With adequate investment, the Soviet Union could increase agricultural output at the same percentage rate as the United States and could reduce the labor force needed in agriculture from the current 40% or 50% to 25% or even 20% by 1970. However, in terms of per-unit yield over large areas, the Soviet Union would never catch up with the United States because its growing season was too short and its climate too dry. Khrushchev should cool down the arms race and invest more funds in agriculture.
[3] This refers to the comrades then attending the Central Committee Work Conference in Beidaihe.
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