ABSTRACT
The decreased output affected supplies of bread as well as meat and dairy products since the kolkhozy and sovkhozy use enormous amounts of grain for livestock feed. The Soviet state—in the process of breaking up into separate governments in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and elsewhere—was able to procure only half of the grain it needed from its own farms and had to turn to the West for massive imports. As Russia moved into the harvest season in mid-summer 1992, farmers were more up in arms than in 1991 and calls to withhold grain from sale to the state spread. Deliberate withholding of grain by farms was one major cause of the procurement shortfalls. The retention of grain by farms or its sale to private channels instead of the state may help to replace the old state procurement monopoly, but sales to private traders do not necessarily ensure the public enough bread.
