Medal "For the Development of Virgin Lands"

Medal "For the Development of Virgin Lands"
Medal "For the Development of Virgin Lands" (obverse)
Type	Civilian medal
Awarded for	Development of virgin and fallow lands in Kazakhstan, Siberia, the Ural, the Volga and the North Caucasus.
Presented by	Soviet Union
Eligibility	Soviet citizens
Status	No longer awarded
Established	October 26, 1956
Total	1,345,520
Ribbon of the Medal "For the Development of Virgin Lands"

The Medal "For the Development of Virgin Lands" (Russian: Медаль «За освоение целинных земель», romanized: Medal' "Za osvoyeniye tselinnykh zemel'") was a civilian award of the Soviet Union established on October 26, 1956 by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR^[1] to recognise individuals who displayed superior performance in labour over two years connected with the Virgin Lands Campaign started in 1954 by Nikita Khrushchev to cultivate 36,000,000 ha (89,000,000 acres; 360,000 km²) of previously uncultivated lands in Kazakhstan, Siberia, the Urals, the Volga area and the northern Caucasus, it was intended to serve as an example for good achievements in the performance of civic duties.^[1]