SUGAR BEET PRODUCTION - GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION/USE OF COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS/CHRONIC PESTS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00926A005500010024-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 26, 2013
• Sequence Number: 24
• Publication Date: September 15, 1952
• Content Type: REPORT

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/02/26: CIA-RDP80-00926A005500010024-6
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COUNTRY USSR
U.S. Officials Only
CONFIDENTIAL
SECURITY INFORMATION
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION REPORT
SUBJECT Sugar Beet Production - Government Organization/Use
of Commercial Fertiliners/Chronic.Pests
50X1 -HUM
THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS INFORMATION AFFECTING THE NATIONAL DEFENSE
OF THE UNITED STATES, WITHIN THE MEANING OF TITLE 10. SECTIONS 705
AND 794. OF THE U.S. CODE, AS AMENDED. ITS TRANSMISSION OR REVE-
LATION OF ITS CONTENTS TO OR RECEIPT BY AN UNAUTHORIZED PERSON IS
PR. IS TED BY A TV REPR.D CTION OF THI R PORT - PRO SITE.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
REPORT
50X1 -HUM
DATE DSTR.LS Sep 52
NO. OF PAGES
NO. OE ENCLS.
SUPP. TO
REPORT NO.
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1. The Ukraine, in spite of its traditional reputation for rich earth, presents
many production problems for the farmer, and thus for the Soviet Government.
Foremost annng such problems is a shortage of certain minerals inherent to
arable soil, which, albeit found in minute quantity in the earth, are re-
quisite for proper cultivation of crops. Particularly affecting the growth
of the sugar beet is the necessary presence of a small trace of borate and
copper. The absence of a trace of borate stunts development of the beet's
maturity and turns the root black. A shortage of a small quantity of copper
makes protein assimilation and sugar synthesis difficult for the beet, and
leaves it an easy prey to the ravages of indigenous diseases and pests.
Unfortunately for the Soviet Government, the absence of these minute traces of
certain elements has plagued the development of specialized agriculture on an
intensive basis in the Ukraine for decades.
2 The Government's answer to the problem was the increasing use of chemical
fertilization designed not only to produce bigger yields but to improve and
increase the basic mineral content of the soil. In addition, pest control
through the use of insecticides was widely practiced. The Department of
Chemistry at the All-Union Sugar Institute in BeIaya Tserkov was charged with;
research in both fields. This department, with a total of 50 men, was divided
into four sections:
(a) Soil: This section conducted soil tests and ran hundreds of samples to
determine the soil composi*on of the Ukraine.
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DISTRIBUTION sio
STATE
ARMY
U.S. Officials Only
CONFIDENTIAL
SECURITY INFORMATION
NAVY
AIR
FBI
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(b) Microbiology:. This section analysed the soil content for pest eggs and
chronic shortages of requisite minerals. ?
(e) Fertilizer: This section recommended and tested through experimentation
the efficiency of commercially produced fertilizers.
(d) Quality analysis: This section, which I headed, was designed to check
the effect of,fertilizers on the actual yield of the crop, as well as the
possible effect upon the t-)11. content. I was also responsible for reporting
any adverse influences created in the soil by the extensive use of powerful
insecticides.
My samples were collected at random from the more than 300 sugar beet factories
of the Ukraine. In 1936, the Department of Chemistry completed the first Soviet
soil map of the Ukraine, incorporating the findings of each section in minute
statistical data.
Commercial Fertilizers EmpluEd
3. Phosphate: This mineral is widely used on the Ukrainian sugar beet, as well as
on the cotton crop of the area, because of its plentiful supply, and the ease
with which it is assimilated by the sugar beet. Through assimilation of
phosphate, the sugar beet soor builds up its protein content. The major source
of phosphate in the USSR is a gigantic deposit at Chibinogorsk, no called
Apatity, near Murmansk. This deposit has been worked since:1922, but in 1934 the
mineral content of the rock dropped from 36% to 12% by volume, and a flotation
plant was installed at the mine in 1936. Transportation of the ins neral to the
Ukraine was by ship from Fbirmansk to Odessa, Where the product, pewdered and
someWhat concentrated due to the flotation process, was transported to a,nearby
superphoSpate plant on Odessa's outskirts, or to the superphosphate works at
Vinnitaa. At both plants, the old process of further refinement was divided
into three parts: the rock crushing mill; the sulfuric acid treatment section;
and the grindng mill, which reduced the treated phosphate gravel to powder.
After the installatioa of the flotation plant at Apatity in 1936, the crushing
and. grinding mills at the Ukrainian plants were closed, and only the sulfuric
acid treatment plants remained open to treat the powder. The final treatment
Of the flotation-processed phosphate yielded a superphosphate of unprecedented
purity, running between 40% and 44%. The proanss was as follows: Ca3(P002
41as 112504 yields CaH(PO4), Plus CaSO4 which is dissolvable by water The
troduction of this superphosphate was made far simpler by the installation of
the flotation plant near Murmansk, and production quotas were raised as a re-
sult. -However, in spite of these advantages, phosphate remained in short
supply .in the Ukraine because the increased 'use? of the mineral taxea_ the poor
transportation faCilities.
4
4. Potassium: The major supply for the Ukraine comes from a single mammoth
deposit supposedly 700 feet deep and several miles square at Solikamsk on the
Kama River. The potassium in. this depcsit is mixed with sodium, and several
experiments were conducted in 1936 to determine whether the admixture was
usuable on croPs without refining. Although the presence of NaC1 in the
mixture was not as strong as first suspected, it was soon determine'd that the
Product would have to be refined, to inerease its 'water solubility and ease of ?
assimilation by the beet seedling. Consequently, a refinery vas erected at
the deposit site, and in 1933 refining of the original prodact (01-NaC1) with
la 12% content of pure potassium chloride was begun. After refining, the yield
was 40% pure potassium chloride with a high degree of water solubility. When
applied to test plots of Ukrainian sugar beets, this excellent fertilizer
always increased the yield between 18% and 20%.
5. Ammonium Sulfate: Ammonium sulfate is available in limited quantity, but until
1936 was derived only from the coal coking process as a by-product. The white
crystalline powder from the coking process, still the major source, is 20%
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nitrogen. In 1937, eztensive efforts to combin al,:lonum sulfate with nitro,:en
hydroxide to economically form anronium nitrate wore nucsossful. Tho
charadteristically heavy nitrogen content made this especially
popular and the demand was always great. :I soon determined, that ammonituft
nitrate was especially beneficial for the rapid restoration of the azobacterin
content. It is also successful in revitalizilt the minute quantities of.
borate and copper so necessary for effective maturity of the seedlings.
. .
6. Nitrogen Fixation: Nitrogen fixation in the Soviet Union, other than from
industrial coking processes, is virtually nonemistent. The great Dnepropetrovsk
Dam was utilized totally for the production of electricity, and the consua.dtion
of kilowatts was limited to steel factories and other "essential" or war 50X1-HUN
production. The dam supplied electricity for' 'hr. steel, 011, and mine install,
atione in the following cities: Krivoi Rog, 1-11,6prodzerzhinrk_lilikonol,
Zaporozhe, Melitopol, Mariupol, Dmitrevsk Staliuski, Stalino,
power lines from this dam were eventually extended to Rostov and Voroshilovgraa
in the, East, Kharkov to the North, and the Crimea to the South. However, even
after these extensions, and the increase in kilowatt output of the dam, it
never supplied 'the power for a'nitrogen fixation plant, This is characteristic
of Soviet inclinations to put war production first, regardlesb of the conse-
quences. AsenexamPle, many villages close to the dam had no electricity.
In 1936, the coking process vas'found to yield 20% ammeniumaulfate
accotpApied 'by a '30% release of nitrogen 'by volume, most of ighich was wasted.
The Soviet scientist-(fnu)-Bereznika 'was the first to'suacessfully and econom-
icallyscombine nitrogen ,and hydrOgen into ammonium hydroxide, and then blond
it with Illfuric aoid to yield.- ammonium nitric. acid, from which potassium
nitrate and. sodiummltrate were recoverable for commercial fertilization.
Pest Damage
Heterodera'Schachti, Schm (US-Nematode): Sugar beet production.was so greatly
Affected by the nematode in-1936, 1937 and 1938 that .every akperiment station
set up its own nematode laboratory following instructions from the Ministry of
Food. in Moscow to take drastic .action. The laboratory scientists reported
through their chiefs to the'DireCtor oT the'All4Jpion Sugar Institute, who,
relayed findings and corrective action reports to the 'Ministry in the Capital.
When several chemical'S failed, a contact potider,'actihson the stomach of the
pest, known as chloripiciui was emrployed with great success. Later, in ex-
tensIvely infected fields,- a fort,of Chlorine gas was-discharged under intense
preSsure into freshly plowed ground- This practice was.. successful too, but
very costly.
8. Dolgonosik (US-Snout beetle) (Latin - Bothynoderes Punctiventris): This pest,
prevalent' in the Dnepr Basin, is grey in color, three-quarters of an, inch
long with a very sharp and efficient Proboscis. The creature destroyed a
large part,of,the sugar beet crop for three years'conSecutively after.
collectivization. For two years_the battle against it was out Of control, in
spite of almost daily threats and-exhortationS-from the Director of the,
Institute, who was under continual fire froM,Mbscow. The in-Sect, with-its,
rapier-sharp nose, can, easily puncture a mature beet,. but is partial. toward
attacking the young 'sprout a few weeks after the earth warms in the spring
and after the seedling has sprouted. With amazing rabidity, the pest severs
the root from the shoot, colpletely destroying the,plaat. The dbmage -done by
one insect is large, and when. a horde attacks, the havoc wreaked is appalling.
The best and most economical insecticide available to fight the beetle was
Barium Chloride (Ba012), sprayed withemcellept results from a horse-drawn
rig over a wide area at moderate cost to the government. It is a contact
powder and. .a stomach agent'.
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9. Lugovoj Motyljok (US-Butterfly larva) Sugar beet webworm (Latin - Loxostege
Sticticalis): The larva, in the form of a webworm? attack the sugar beet
crop sporadically, depending upon the previous year's crop of fertile butter-
flies, and their success at depositing eggs in the sugar beet -fields under
good weather circumstances Which will assure a successful metanorphosis of
t'-ie larva. Consequently, destruction is erratic, and often the larva do not
attack the sugar beet so much as the wintet wheat crop, which is maturing
under the snow blanket coincidental with the larva maturity cycle. In 1936
.and 1937, for example, the wheat crop, which was 90% "winter wheat," was
greatly damaged by this pest. Entire -wheat plots of vast acreage were turned
black and made totally useless. The sugar beet crop was not ,so drastically
harned by the pest in those years. The best action against the pest is to
break the ground thoroughly in the Fa13 before planting-, thus destroying the
deposited eggs. Some insecticides are also effective.
10. Zemljamaja Blahs. (US-Earth flea) .(Latin Chrysonelidae Sub -family Halticini):
This pest, though prevalent in the Ukraine, is not so harmful to the sugar
beet as the above-mentioned ones.
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