Living off the Land

Agro-Joint provided the financing, training, seeds, and modern American tractors for the colonists. In the first four years, 5,646 families had moved from small shtetls to more than a hundred colonies in the Ukraine and Crimea. By 1936, some 70,000 Jews had turned from tradesmen into successful pioneers, working the land and managing livestock in 215 collectively-run settlements.

By pooling their efforts, newly adjusting colonists increased their chances of success. Settlers, aged 2 to 70 pose with their newly delivered wood at Novy Put (New Path) colony in the Krivoy Rog District. Ukraine, c. 1925, <em> NY_00777</em>.

Modern tractors, purchased by Agro-Joint for shared use among colonists, changed the nature of work in the colonies and greatly increased the crop yield.

Taking a lunch break from field work at a new agricultural colony in the Kherson District. Most meals were prepared in a clay field oven built on the spot. Ukraine, c. 1925, <em> NY_00857</em>.

Agro-Joint helped launch dozens of cheese-making cooperatives in Jewish settlements. It supplied equipment for hygienic production. Experts from Switzerland trained colonists in how to make Swiss cheese. The cooperatives sold their cheese through Government export trusts to outside markets as far away as Turkey. Novaya Zaria Colony’s cheese-making factory in the Biuk Onlar region. Crimea, 1931, <em>NY_43519 (from YIVO)</em>.

A Cooperative Approach

From the start, Agro-Joint colonies were based on a cooperative system. Small land parcels were combined into large tracts. Settlers worked together to build, plant, and harvest crops. Farm machinery and initially, live-stock was owned cooperatively. Later, the Soviet government began enforced broad collectivization beyond the comfort level of most farmers.

Most colonies were built on abandoned and undeveloped land, untamed by plows. To help ease settlement on such hard ground, Agro-Joint acquired thousands of modern American tractors for the new colonies. Skilled operators were brought in to train settlers in their use. Although tractors were not owned by individual families, they were much appreciated. Ukraine, c. 1925, <em> NY_00768</em>.

Agro-Joint agronomists introduced diversification of crops to avert further food shortages and improve productivity in the colonies. American corn was used as a partial replacement for wheat, the main subsistence crop in the Ukraine. Corn had a longer planting season and greater resistance to the drought-prone climate of “snowless winters and rainless summers.” Unlike wheat, it could be planted in separate rows and weeded; it required a fifth as much seed for equal caloric food value; and its stalks could be used for cattle fodder. Members of an Odessa colony experimenting with corn. Ukraine, 1928, <em> NY_43878 (from YIVO)</em>.

Depending on local conditions, new crops and animals were introduced. In the Odessa region, vegetables were grown; in Eupatoria, dairy cows and chickens were brought in and milk, cheese, and egg production taught. In Crimea’s steppes and sandy wastes, colonists were taught how to cultivate orchards and vineyards. Individual families were allowed to grow their own. These developments helped settlers raise their income significantly. An elderly couple in the Poltavtsy Colony examined their grape vines. Ukraine, late 1920’s, <em>NY_43380 (from YIVO)</em>.

After initial attempts to collectivize even livestock, individual families were allowed to keep a few sheep, two cows, and up to 100 chickens. These were provisioned through Agro-Joint and paid for with interest-free loans. Colonists in Krivoy Rog raised Leghorns, a breed of chickens unrivalled in egg production. Ukraine, c. 1934, <em> NY_43566 (from YIVO)</em>.

Digging In

The government supplied free land to settlers, but everything else was hard to come by. Agro-Joint provided guidance, equipment, and seeds to colonists as quickly as possible, but getting started was still back-breaking work. Agro-Joint agronomists looked for ways to make farming less difficult and more productive.

American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee

Archives

Beyond Relief: JDC's Work in the Ukraine and Crimea between the Wars

Living off the Land

A Cooperative Approach

Digging In