Sovkhoz
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A sovkhoz Template:Audio (Russian language: Совхоз, Советское хозяйство, sovetskoe khoziaistvo, "soviet household"), typically translated as state farm, is a Soviet state-owned farm, in contrast with kolkhoz, which is a collective-owned farm.
Under Stalin's collectivization campaign, most farmers were forced into either a sovkhoz or a kolkhoz. A sovkhoz would be organized by the state with workers who would be paid regulated wages, while in a kolkhoz the system of payment was different.
Initially, sovkhoz farms were the ones which were created by the state confiscating large estates, while kolkhozes were typically created by combining smaller farms together.
The distinction between sovkhoz and kolkhoz was not significant in practice most of the time. Both categories of farms were controlled by orders from the Soviet government and all produce was delivered to the state according to state-controlled prices. Government could decide to transform kolkhoz into sovkhoz or sovkhoz into kolkhoz.
In 1990, the Soviet Union had 25,500 farms, 45% of them being sovkhoz and 55% kolkhoz. The average size of a sovkhoz was 153 km², more than twice the average kolkhoz. Sovkhoz farms were more dominant in the Asian part of Soviet Union.
See Collectivisation in the USSR and Agriculture of the Soviet Union for general discussion of Soviet agriculture, its history and efficiency.