In 1909-1912, in accordance with the decision of the government and the Committee for the Settlement of the Far East , the Amur Integrated Expedition led by Nikolai Lvovich Gondatti began work in the Amur Region . The expedition was instructed to study the area adjacent to the construction line of the Amur Railway (03.03.1908, the Duma decided to build a railway from Kueng station to Khabarovsk ) with a view to its suitability for settlement and economic activity. For these purposes, the expedition allocated 200 thousand rubles and attracted about a hundred specialists from different directions. The work was carried out by separate expeditions, groups and detachments in different places of the Amur region .
The main task of the Upper Zeya expedition (which is part of the Amur expedition), led by soil scientist Nikolai Ivanovich Prokhorov, was not only the study of soils, climate and bioresources of the Amur Region, but also the development of proposals for organizing research on agricultural problems. The expedition was charged with the discovery of new experimental fields and weather stations.