Agricultural development in german-speaking settlements of the steppe zone of Southern Ukraine (mid-19th - early 20th century)

The article analyzes the issue of agricultural development of German-speaking colonists
who lived in the steppe zone of Ukraine. The article analyzes the general features and
main directions of development of this process and the reasons that caused it. The main
attention is paid to the process of transformation of colonial agriculture. Until the 1860s,
the most important and profitable branch of agriculture of the colonists was cattle
breeding. However, due to rising grain prices, the importance of agriculture in Germanspeaking
settlements is growing, which is now gradually becoming the basis of their
economic development. Changing market needs have actually led to a complete
restructuring of their internal structure. From now on it was reoriented to commodity
production of grain crops. It was the need to achieve high profitability that forced
colonists to use hired labor, agricultural machinery, and so on more widely than on
other farms. This process also coincided with the widespread spread of colonial land
tenure in the new territories of the region, which had an impact on certain changes in the
natural environment. The methods of ecosystem analysis and synthesis used in our work
are based on a comprehensive analysis of environmental components, identification of
key factors in the functioning of an integrated agricultural system, identification of
features that distinguish Mennonite colonies from others and determine the level of its
uniqueness. The comparative research method is applied to the comparison of
Mennonite agricultural landscapes with others. German-speaking colonists were the first
to use 4 complete farming systems and actively used mineral and organic fertilizers.
They carried out active reclamation work, for which cascades of ponds were created on
the rivers.
In the late 19th century, a number of publications noted the progressive agricultural
methods of the colonists. This influenced the spread of progressive methods among
other ethnic groups and denominations. In this way, the study of the historical
experience of using nature makes it possible to assess the nature of the transformation of
natural complexes, as well as to identify the features of the rationality of historical
systems of nature management.
Key words: agricultural machinery, agricultural implements, natural landscape