The Medal for Transforming the Non-Black Earth of the RSFSR

• Time Period: Post-WW2
• Year of Institution: 30 September 1977
• Country: Russia & USSR

The Medal for Transforming the Non-Black Earth of the RSFSR (or Медаль «За преобразование Нечерноземья РСФСР», Medal «Za preobrazovanie Тechernozem’ja RSFSR» in Russian) was established on 30 September 1977 by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and awarded for 3 years outstanding service in developing Soviet agriculture.

The Medal “For Transforming the Non-Black Earth of the RSFSR” was awarded to workers, farmers, and employees who made an impact on the work of implementation of the long-term program for the development for agriculture of the non-black earth zone of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, and who worked as a rule, for not less than three years in this field and that was located on state or collective farms, or worked in businesses, organizations or institutions whose activities were directly related to the transformation of the non-black earth.

The medal’s statute was amended on July 18, 1980 by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR № 2523-X.

The Medal for Transforming the Non-Black Earth of the RSFSR Design

The medal was 32mm in diameter, circular, and made of tombac, with a raised rim on both sides. It was worn on the left side of the chest.

On the obverse, in the right half, the relief image of a tractor pulling a plow through a field below a rising Sun over a distant tree line; at left the relief images of barns, grain elevators, and power transmission towers; along the medal’s lower circumference, the relief inscription «За преобразование Нечерноземья РСФСР» (“For transforming the Non-Black Earth of the RSFSR”), along the upper left circumference, a panicle of wheat; the obverse had a raised rim.

On the reverse, at the center, the relief image of the hammer and sickle with wheat spikes below a relief five-pointed star emitting rays.

The Medal “For Transforming the Non-Black Earth of the RSFSR” was secured to a standard Soviet pentagonal mount by a ring through the medal suspension loop. The mount was covered by a 24 mm wide overlapping green silk moiré ribbon with 2 mm yellow edge stripes and a 6 mm central blue stripe.