000			01991nam a2200193Ia 4500
999			_c37520 _d37520
005			20220612171943.0
008			200202s9999 xx 000 0 und d
020			_a916468518
082			_a338.1 BRO
100			_aBrown, Lester R.
245		0	_aU.S. and Soviet agriculture
260			_aWashington
260			_bWorldwatch Institute.
260			_c1982
300			_a48 p.
520			_aAnalysts of the U.S.-Soviet balance of power usually focus on 5 relative military strength-the number of tanks, planes, nu clear warheads and other items in the so-called strategic balance. But many other factors determine a country's over all power and influence. Among the most basic is a country's capacity to feed its people. By this measure the Soviet Union appears to be in deep trouble. Massive spending has increased Soviet military strength in recent years, but the country has become weaker agriculturally. While the two superpowers now appear roughly equal in military strength, the advantage in agriculture has shifted dramatically toward the United States. The U.S. exportable food surplus is climbing, while Soviet dependence on food imports is growing. This year the Soviet Union will try to import 46 million tons of grain, more than any country in history. Nearly one-fourth of all Soviet grain, feeding both people and livestock, will come from outside sources. Over one-half of this imported grain will come from the North American breadbasket, most of it from the United States.1 The Soviet economy is a planned economy, but these grain imports were not planned. They will fill part of the 68 million ton gap between the 1982 target of 238 million tons of grain and an actual harvest of some 170 million tons.2 In the past the Soviets blamed bad weather for their shortfalls, but this explanation is beginning to wear thin. Recently the Soviet leadership has acknowledged failures within the agricultural system itself.
650			_aAgriculture.
942			_cB _2ddc