Rostov Combine Harvester Production Association

(Rostsel’mash), an enterprise in the USSR producing combine harvesters, located in the city of Rostov-on-Don.

Construction of the plant was begun in 1926 and completed on June 15, 1930. It produced combines and other farm machinery, such as reapers, planters, plows, and harrows. The plant was destroyed during the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45 and was rebuilt in 1947. It produced tractor-drawn corn harvesters and combines until 1958, when it switched to production of the SK-3 self-propelled combine harvester, followed by the SK-4 in 1962. Retooling work, not requiring a halt in production, began at the plant in 1971; this work will enable the plant to turn out 90,000 combine harvesters a year. In 1973 production of the highly efficient SK-5 Niva combine harvester was begun.

The products of Rostsel’mash have received world recognition. In 1937 first prize was won at an exposition in Paris, and in 1968 the Rostsel’mash entry was placed in the top category at an international trade fair in Leipzig. In 1969 a gold medal was won in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. The combine was awarded the Order of Lenin (1956), the Order of the October Revolution (1971), and the Order of the Red Banner of Labor (1930).