Agricultural Exploitation of the Farmland in Rural Areas in the Polish Carpathians

Marcin SEMCZUK*¹
* Corresponding author
¹ Pedagogical University of Kraków, Institute of Geography, Kraków, POLAND 
E-mail: semczuk@up.krakow.pl
Pages: 201-205. URL: https://geografie.ubbcluj.ro/ccau/jssp/arhiva_si2_2013/03JSSPSI022013.pdf

Cite: Semczuk M. (2013), Agricultural Exploitation of the Farmland in Rural Areas in the Polish Carpathians. Journal of Settlements and Spatial Planning, Special Issue 2, 201-205. URL: https://geografie.ubbcluj.ro/ccau/jssp/arhiva_si2_2013/03JSSPSI022013.pdf

Abstract. There is still an inappropriate agrarian structure in Poland as compared to the majority of EU countries, which is bound up with the high spatial differentiation of size structure of farms. This might result from the different policy in the period of the Partitions of Poland, land reforms and the period of centrally planned economy. In recent years, the spatial structure of farms has varied under the influence of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The largest share of small farms is observed in south-eastern part of Poland, including the Carpathian Mountains area, where in 2010 the average agricultural area per farm was 2.31 hectares for Malopolska province and 2.67 hectares for the Podkarpackie province, with the national average of 6.85 hectares (values refer to the farms and parcels of the private sector). The discussed area is characterized by low growth rate of farms area as well. It amounted to 6.4% in the years 2002 – 2010 with an increase of 18.8% for the entire country. There are also observed the major changes in agricultural exploitation the farmland in the studied provinces in the discussed years. The greatest growth is observed for the meadows area that increased on average by 36.2%, with 20% growth for the entire country (in terms of agricultural area).

K e y w o r d s:  agricultural land use, agricultural census, common agricultural policy