Over the past year the Soviet agricultural system has been exposed to public scrutiny without the protection of traditional ideology and the selective use of statistics. The first set of efforts to change things-the much heralded leasing system-has had little impact, but the time for real change to occur has been very short. To date, the reforms are not clearly articulated. And there is no guarantee that they will succeed when and if implemented. However, spurred by increased food shortages and the general financial crises, Soviets and their politicians have little choice: the structure of agriculture must change. Whether agricultural reforms succeed or fail, the events of 1989 may be as momentous for the twenty-first century as the 1929 Soviet collectivization of their farms was for the twentieth.