Ministry of Agriculture and Food

The People's Commissariat for Agriculture, abbreviated as Narkomzem was established in the USSR in 1929. Its headquarters building was located at Orlikov Pereulok, 1, Moscow, designed by Aleksey Shchusev in 1928. Narkomzem was reformed as the Soviet Ministry of Agriculture and Food (Minsel'khoz) in 1946. History The commissariat united all republican commissariats of the Soviet Union. It was formally known as the People's Commissariat for Agriculture ( - Narkomzem) was set up in Petrograd in October 1917. Vladimir Milyutin was appointed the first People's Commissar of Agriculture. He was a member of the Council of People's Commissars. The Ministry was abolished in November 1985 with the creation of the State Agro-Industrial Committee (Gosagroprom) which took over the functions of the Ministry for Agriculture, the Ministry for Fruit and Vegetable Production, the Ministry for the Meat and Dairy Industry, the Ministry of the Food Industry and the Ministry for Rural Construction.