Savhoz

Savhoz, short for "selskoe khozyaystvo" (agricultural economy), was a system of collective farming in the Soviet Union and its satellite states. Introduced in the late 1920s, the savhoz system aimed to modernize agriculture by consolidating small, private farms into large, state-controlled enterprises. These enterprises were typically managed by a collective leadership and were responsible for producing a wide range of agricultural products.

The savhoz system was characterized by centralized planning and control, with the state setting production quotas and distributing resources. Farmers within a savhoz were often paid wages rather than receiving a share of the harvest, which could lead to a lack of motivation to work efficiently. Despite these challenges, the savhoz system played a significant role in the Soviet Union's agricultural sector, contributing to the country's self-sufficiency in food production during the early years of the Soviet era.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the savhoz system began to show signs of strain, with declining productivity and increasing bureaucracy. In response, the Soviet government introduced a new system of agricultural cooperatives, known as kolkhozes, which offered more autonomy to individual farmers. The savhoz system was gradually phased out, with the last savkhozes being converted to kolkhozes by the late 1980s. Today, the legacy of the savhoz system can still be seen in the agricultural practices and infrastructure of the former Soviet Union and its successor states.