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AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN GERMAN-SPEAKING SETTLEMENTS OF THE STEPPE ZONE OF SOUTHERN UKRAINE (MID-19TH - EARLY 20TH CENTURY)

Oleksiy Zamuruysev, Sergiy Pachev, Larysa Poliakova, Natalia Schkoda, Alexandr Zhiryakov

Abstract

The article analyzes the issue of agricultural development of German-speaking colonists who lived in the steppe zone of Ukraine. The article analyzes the general features and main directions of development of this process and the reasons that caused it. The main attention is paid to the process of transformation of colonial agriculture. Until the 1860s, the most important and profitable branch of agriculture of the colonists was cattle breeding. However, due to rising grain prices, the importance of agriculture in German-speaking settlements is growing, which is now gradually becoming the basis of their economic development. Changing market needs have actually led to a complete restructuring of their internal structure. From now on it was reoriented to commodity production of grain crops. It was the need to achieve high profitability that forced colonists to use hired labor, agricultural machinery, and so on more widely than on other farms. This process also coincided with the widespread spread of colonial land tenure in the new territories of the region, which had an impact on certain changes in the natural environment. The methods of ecosystem analysis and synthesis used in our work are based on a comprehensive analysis of environmental components, identification of key factors in the functioning of an integrated agricultural system, identification of features that distinguish Mennonite colonies from others and determine the level of its uniqueness. The comparative research method is applied to the comparison of Mennonite agricultural landscapes with others. German-speaking colonists were the first to use 4 complete farming systems and actively used mineral and organic fertilizers. They carried out active reclamation work, for which cascades of ponds were created on the rivers. In the late 19th century, a number of publications noted the progressive agricultural methods of the colonists. This influenced the spread of progressive methods among other ethnic groups and denominations. In this way, the study of the historical experience of using nature makes it possible to assess the nature of the transformation of natural complexes, as well as to identify the features of the rationality of historical systems of nature management.

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DOI resolver: doi.org/10.5593/sgem2021/5.1/s21.075

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