During the war, the Soviet Union faced many challenges economically. When Khrushchev came to power, he tried to place more emphasis on producing consumer goods. He attempted to increase agricultural output but this was unsuccessful. Food shortages were a problem during this time.
After Khrushchev was taken out of office and Brezhnev came to power, he made new economic policies. He faced two problems however. One of these problems was that the governments planning. The second was that farmers had no incentive to work hard and produce food. Many of the farmers preferred to work on private plots and collect work brigades.