On the Kolkhoz

To Russia with skepticism

During the "Great Grain Robbery" of 1972, shrewd Soviet traders secretly bought shiploads of U.S. wheat at bargain prices, causing domestic prices of some grains to double. Last year the wily Russians again bought unexpectedly large quantities of U.S. grain. Despite spy-in-the-sky satellite photos taken by the CIA to gauge the Soviet harvest, U.S. officials overestimated the harvest by 10%--or 21 million metric tons. This year, vows Bob Bergland, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and a former Minnesota wheat farmer, the Soviets will not hornswoggle U.S. grain traders again.

Bergland set out last weekend for a nine-day tour of Russian grainfields to see for himself how things are going down on the kolkhoz. Along the way, he will discuss agricultural policies with officials in Norway, Poland, Hungary, Rumania and Britain. But his chief concern is the Soviet crop. By talking with Russian officials and farmers, and squeezing a few wheat kernels, Bergland figures that he can tell the real state of this year's Soviet harvest.

Before his departure, the Secretary feared that the Soviets would not agree to his preferred itinerary, but this turned out not to be the case. Said an aide: "We've got half the world's food supply, so they have to cooperate." Bergland will visit farms and storage facilities near Kiev, Leningrad and Tselinograd, in the "new lands" country of central Russia. He also has insisted that his hosts keep the official receptions to a minimum. Some socializing is "inescapable," he allowed "but I also intend to see those farms for myself." Last week U.S. experts reckoned the current Soviet goal of a fat 220-million-ton harvest was "too optimistic." But it remains to be seen which will be sharper: CIA estimates from satellite photos or the Secretary's field-trained eyes.

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