The Soviet Union was at a chronic climatological disadvantage when compared to the United States. The thermal conditions of the USSR were poorly suited to agriculture: 80 per cent of Soviet cropland was located in what would be classified as ‘the least productive thermal zone’ – four times as high as was the case in the US. Moreover, while around a third of US cropland was in the most favourable zone for agricultural production, the same was true for just 4 per cent of the equivalent in the USSR. Comparative rainfall levels were also very heavily weighted in favour of North America, where
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