Soviets to Try New Methods of Farming

Soviet farms will introduce “new technology” in a widescale experiment designed to increase the country’s grain yields, which fell sharply below the official target rate in 1984, Izvestia reported Wednesday.

The government newspaper said new methods will be tried on 42.5 million acres of arable land--about a seventh of the total grain-growing area--and could boost harvests by 18 million tons.

In the absence of Soviet figures, U.S. agriculture experts estimated last year’s harvest at 170 million tons, about 70 million below the official target.

Izvestia did not spell out the measures but referred to an article earlier this year that mentioned better fertilizers and pesticides and more up-to-date farm machinery. It said the area under experiment will be increased from year to year.

About 47,000 specialists and more than 60,000 farm machinists have already been trained in the new methods, which reportedly have produced favorable results when tried in parts of the Ukraine.