Even the Soviets weren’t stupid enough to tolerate bread shortages for very long.
Bread shortages are not good for stable governments. Learn history Vladimir.
They used to blame the weather.
We blame Global Warming for this sort of thing.
But I guess it’s not personal. Just business. Poorly done.
Another five year plan?
Ma Chalmers commandeering the railroad cars.
It really is remarkable.
Centrally planned economies work so well, always...
We’ve cut off their oil export money, so they are exporting their food to fund their defense industry. Sounds just like a fat little Korean leader who shares a border with them.
Grain surpluses were not typical in the Soviet era. This is privatization manifesting itself. If/When the Ukraine gets their economy in order they may become the bread basket of Europe again.
Ma Chalmers commandeering the railroad cars.
It really is remarkable.
Supply and demand...smells like capitalism.
That’s one of the main factors that got Khrushchev removed from power, bread shortages.
Let them eat cake.
So the old commies discovered free enterprise and decided a little profit is a good thing. Wow.
Government control over the economy just straight up sucks.
Remember the famous Wheat Deal...sometime in the 1980’s
From the article: “A massive harvest is underway in Russia for wheat and other grains. In fact, the possibly record production is so huge, current infrastructure cannot keep up and may slow exports, simply from lack of ability to get the grain to ships. Ports and railways are bursting with product; there is almost no storage left, leaving the country to secure storage overseas.”
The abandonment of collective farming has apparently led to a massive increase in agricultural production in Russia. Likely by the the introduction of private land ownership and stewardship. The collective laborers worked their 40 hours and quit to drink their vodka. The harvest laid waste until the state assigned workers from schools or the big city to help. Private stewardship requires that the owner or tenant work as many hours as necessary to maximize the harvest.
The art of the deal. One ton of bread for one ton of uranium.
This is a case of “capitalism”, the profit in growing the wheat, meeting up with “collectivism”, the bad transportation network.
The Russians (Soviets), did not understand the need for a transportation network to get the grain from the fields to the markets. I really think most of the Russian leaders, having lived in areas with good roads and private drivers, never really understood how important the transportation infrastructure is.
Europe has that kind of network because, for the most part, we and the Germans built it to get troops from one place to another. In America, it was built to get goods from the producer to the market. Very few other countries really understand that in a visceral sense.
So when they have a bumper crop, they do not know how to get it to market.