At one time the collective farmers were millionares and now they are going bankrupt. They farm 12,000 acres of land, and that takes 600 people to do it. They irrigate quite a few acres. It is near the Volga River. 200,000 gallons of water an hour are pumped into a reservoir which is their source of water.
Gas is used to pump the wells.
They grow hard red winter and spring wheat and do their harvesting in August. They were putting up hay while we were there. They have lots of old run down equipment. We walked through the cemetary. Les took pictures of some of the familiar names.