The Medal "For the Development of Virgin Lands" 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 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 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. Wikipedia