CHANGES IN LAND USE IN POLAND COMPARATIVE STUDY OF PERIOD

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1 Proceedings of the 7 th International Scientific Conference Rural Development 2015 Article DOI: Edited by prof. Asta Raupelienė ISSN / eissn eisbn CHANGES IN LAND USE IN POLAND COMPARATIVE STUDY OF PERIOD 2002 Krystyna KUROWSKA, Department of Planning and Spatial Engineering, Faculty of Geodesy, Geospatial and Civil Engineering; University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, ul. Prawocheńskiego 15, Zip code: , Olsztyn, Poland, krystyna.kurowska@uwm.edu.pl (corresponding author) Roman RUDNICKI, Department of Spatial Planning and Tourism, Faculty of Earth Sciences, Nicolaus Copernicus University, ul. Lwowska 1, Toruń, Poland, rudnickir@umk.pl Land is the most important means of production in agriculture. Valuation of agricultural land resources takes into account the acreage and land quality. Changes in the land use structure are stimulated by many factors. It ought to be remembered that the farmland also provide space for purposes other than agriculture or forestry. The paper presents those changes in the land use structure in Poland which took place in the period of On the basis of the data by the Central Statistical Office [GUS] and its Agricultural Censuses of 2002 and the authors propose an agricultural holding territorial importance, land location, change for agricultural land turned into non-agricultural land and analyse the total area of agricultural holdings. The major determinants (internal and external factors) of those changes are also described. The aim of the study is to analyse the changes taking place in the Polish agriculture. They were taken into account natural, ecological and urban determinants as well as to the Common Agricultural Policy. The analyses were conducted at the level of voivodships and poviats and were contained agriculture land and non-agriculture land. The area of agricultural land is decreasing as it is being dedicated for other non-agricultural purposes, especially for housing purposes. Keywords: agricultural land, non-agricultural land, agricultural holding, land use structure. INTRODUCTION Changes in the human land use are a significant factor affecting natural environment. Both on the local and the global scale, they influence the carbon balance, water cycle, biodiversity and landscape (Verburg et al., 2009). Land use constitutes also an important area of spatial studies on agriculture. As a field of study, it was initiated at the end of the 19 th century by J. W. Powell in the USA to be developed in the middle of the 20 th century by L. D. Stamp in the UK (Falkowski and Kostrowicki, 2001, pp ); in Poland it was undertaken mostly by Uhorczak (1963) and Kostrowicki (1960), Kulikowski (1969), and it remains within the sphere of academic interest of Bański (19, 1998) and Głębocki with Świderski (2007). Studies conducted by these researchers, apart from presenting spatial differentiation of particular land use forms, focused on the analysis of the effects of natural, historical, urban and other determinants, including the Common Agricultural Policy instruments in the last decade (e.g. Rudnicki, 2007; Kołodziejczak and Rudnicki, 2012). Space is scarce and limited. In particular, space dedicated for food production is on a steady decrease, especially when juxtaposed with the population figures (Bański, 19; Marks-Bielska, 2013, pp. 792). It is mostly a result of the ongoing transformation of agricultural land into non-agricultural land, primarily for the purposes of afforestation and built environment, on the one hand, and increasing number of people, on the other hand. The need for rational land management, particularly agricultural land, is gaining weight. Monitoring and studying land structure and trends in the agricultural land use prior to the restructuring of the Polish agriculture were among the fundamental elements governing the restructuring processes. After the Polish accession to the European Union it was noted that farmers started to take a greater interest in agricultural production. That phenomenon was mainly reflected in a substantial reduction in the area of land temporarily excluded from cultivation (Kulikowski, 2013). Farmers did not change that focus of attention due to support measures for agricultural production available within the EU structural funds. The area of an agricultural holding is an important aspect with regard to the changes in land use. With competitive European economy, a Polish farmer who wants to have satisfactory incomes needs to improve the sales of products. Taking into account the Copyright 2015 The Authors. Published by Aleksandras Stulginskis University. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

2 concomitant problems with demand for products, the only way to reach that objective is to enlarge the agricultural holding area (Ziętara, 2009). The aim of the study is to analyse the changes taking place in the Polish agriculture, with due attention given to natural, ecological and urban determinants as well as to the Common Agricultural Policy. The main aim of the research is to identify directions of development of rural areas in Poland and determine the dynamics of changes. For the purposes of this paper an analysis of the agricultural land use structure in Poland was conducted based on the data collected in the Local Data Bank of the Central Statistical Office [GUS] from the Agricultural Census 2002 and the Agricultural Census. An agricultural holding territorial importance was defined and changes in the agricultural holding area were characterised and presented in two approaches: according to the legal address of agricultural holding user and according to the legal address of agricultural holding itself. The fact that the census data were compiled (aggregated) according to the residence of agricultural holding user, which is not always the same as the location of the land used by a given person, was the stimulus to develop the land location (LLI) which is defined as the percentage share of the land area according to user s legal address in the land area according to the legal address of agricultural holding. The analysis of changes in the land use structure was an important element of the research. In order to perform it a change was suggested for the agricultural land turned into non-agricultural land. The analyses were conducted at the level of voivodships and poviats. Total area of agricultural holdings and the ratio of agricultural land area to other land area The analysis of the general land use structure, with regard to all agricultural land, covers two basic groups of land use forms, i.e.: (1) agricultural land, including: agricultural land in a good agricultural condition (cultivated in compliance with the relevant standards and meeting the requirements stipulated in the Ordinance of Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development on minimum standards, as amended; (Ordinance, 2004) and other agricultural acreage (not in a good agricultural condition); (2) non-agricultural land, including: forests and forest land, as well as other land (e.g. under construction). The comparative analysis of the Agricultural Censuses of 2002 and, which contain data compiled according to the legal address of agricultural holding, demonstrated that in the period studied there was a significant decrease in the total area of agricultural holdings in Poland: a fall of 1,255 thousand ha (from 19,325 thousand ha in 2002 to 18,070 thousand ha in ). On average, the agricultural area change for the period of 2002 equalled 94 points (benchmark for 2002 = 100 points) and varied across regions from points in the three voivodships in southern Poland with a large share of mountainous area: Małopolskie voivodship, Podkarpackie voivodship and Śląskie voivodship to 104 points in the Kujawsko-Pomorskie voivodship, which indicates that agricultural land is being taken over for non-agricultural purposes in other regions (see Table 1). It should be highlighted that for the purposes of this study its authors used the data by the Central Statistical Office [GUS] compiled according to the legal address of agricultural holding. As far as poviats are concerned, apart from townships (103 points on average), a rise in the total area of agricultural holdings characterised the units located in western Poland, which can be associated with the take-over of former state-owned agricultural holdings (resulting from the implementation of area payments, among other things). However, in the case of individual poviats, the analysis of changes in the total area of agricultural holdings demonstrated remarkably big differences between selected units with regard to both a major increase in the total area of agricultural holdings (mostly in the following poviats: Ząbkowice in the Dolnośląskie voivodship, 58 thousand ha; Świecie in the Kujawsko-Pomorskie voivodship, 47 thousand ha; and the township of Gdynia in the Pomorskie voivodship, 37 thousand ha) and a substantial decrease in the total area of agricultural holdings (mainly in the following poviats: Słupsk in the Pomorskie voivodship, 60 thousand ha; the township of Wrocław in the Wrocław voivodship, 57 thousand ha; and Lublin in the Lubelskie voivodship, 35 thousand ha). Such pronounced changes point to the fact that in the process of land structure formation, except market mechanisms, more and more weighty are the organisational changes related to the allocation of a particular agricultural holding to and its registration in a given commune (poviat, region). Despite the concluded downward trend in the total area of agricultural holdings, the land occupied by agricultural holdings comprises the largest segment of the land use in Poland: taking up 57.8 % of the whole country area (). This agricultural holding territorial importance, due to the presence of large farms with land stretching over several administrative units, only partly refers to the spatial distribution of these lands and to administrative borders; it varied across regions from 37.6 % in the Lubuskie voivodship (significant share of forest land) and 42.7 % in the Śląskie voivodship (significant share of urban areas) to a distinct domination of the agricultural function (65 70 %) in the Kujawsko-Pomorskie, Lubelskie and Wielkopolskie voivodships (cf Tab. 1). By far larger differences in the values of the can be found across poviats: from below 40 % in 67 units mostly in strongly urbanised areas and areas with unfavourable natural conditions (including the townships of Ruda Śląska in the Śląskie voivodship and Świnoujście in the Zachodniopomorskie voivodship approx. 5 %) to above 70 % in 91 units (including 22 poviats where the value exceeds 85 %) which are mostly located in the following voivodships: Kujawsko-Pomorskie (11 poviats); Lubelskie (10 poviats); Mazowieckie (13 poviats); and Wielkopolskie (16 poviats). The poviats where the values are not so high are only in the Śląskie and Zachodniopomorskie voivodships (cf Fig. 1). 2

3 Table 1. Changes in total area of agricultural holdings and in land use structure in agricultural holdings in Poland in period of 2002 Total area of agricultural holdings (TA) Including according to legal address of agricultural Non-agricultural land Agricultural land (AL) ratio AL/ NAL holding (NAL) Specification Territorial Land Change Land Change Land Change Change [thousand ha] importance location % TA location % TA location % TA 2002 Poland 18, Dolnośląskie Kujawsko-pom. Lubelskie Lubuskie Łódzkie Małopolskie Mazowieckie Opolskie Podkarpackie Podlaskie Pomorskie Śląskie Świętokrzyskie Warmińsko-maz. Wielkopolskie Zachodniopom. 1, , , , , , , , , Including voivodships Including determinants in point bonitation method^ Natural (1,2) * Ecological (0,5) * Functional (1,3) * Urban (2,9) * CAP payments (0,9) * *features presented in absolute values excluded from the analysis of determinants ^determinants: - natural: unfavourable conditions (agricultural production area quality index below 52 points); average conditions (agricultural production area quality index between 52 and 72 points); favourable conditions (agricultural production area quality index above 72 points); - ecological: low level (protected areas up to 20 %); average level (protected areas %); high level (protected areas exceeding 40 %); - functional: on the basis of the location of poviats within sub-regions dominated by rural areas, mixed areas and urban areas, according to the Local Data Bank of the Central Statistical Office; - urban: country districts (less urbanised) and townships (more urbanised); - CAP payments: low (below -0.50δ); average (from -0.50δ to 0.50δ) and high level of absorption (above 0.50 δ). The environmental impact assessment: point bonitation on the basis of the difference between standardised values, i.e.: 0 points (lack of appropriate features the highest values refer to the average level of a particular phenomenon); 1 point (up to 0.5 δ) very poor impact; 2 points (from 0.5 to 1.0 δ) poor impact; 3 points (from 1.00 to 1.5 δ) noticeable impact; 4 points (from 1.5 to 2.0 δ) strong impact; and 5 points (above 2.0 δ) very strong impact. Source: Own study based on data by the Central Statistical Office [GUS] (Agricultural Census 2002 and Agricultural Census ) Figure 1. Agricultural holding territorial importance share of agricultural holding land in poviat area () Source: Own study based on data by the Central Statistical Office [GUS] 3

4 Besides using the agricultural holding territorial importance to describe the changes in the Polish agriculture, the authors of the research also took advantage of the information related to the area of agricultural holdings from the Local Data Bank of the Central Statistical Office [GUS] on the Agricultural Census 2002 and the Agricultural Census. In contrast to the period of socialist economy when land location was mostly tantamount to the legal address of agricultural holding (Rudnicki, 2001), contemporary changes in agricultural holdings are to a large extent related to the removal of transnational restrictions on acquisition of agricultural land. That process, particularly in the period preceding the Polish accession to the EU, was taking place at the time when agricultural production was becoming less and less profitable and farmers and their families incomes were waning (cf Bański, 2006). Since the Polish accession to the EU the process has been also related to the availability of European subsidies, mostly the area payment schemes. The above-mentioned factors contributed to a surge in activities undertaken to acquire agricultural land by nonagricultural entities (e.g. town inhabitants) that were usually connected to more profitable (non-agricultural) branches of economy (cf Biczkowski et al., 2003, Rudnicki, 2006a, 2006b). In all likelihood, the spatial distribution of the land location (LLI) will undergo a major change as of 1 May 2016 the day when the removal of transnational restrictions on acquisition of the Polish agricultural land becomes effective in the EU. With regard to the total area of agricultural holdings across voivodships, in the LLI varied from 94.9 % in the Warmińsko-Mazurskie voivodship (1,221.1 thousand ha according to user s legal address; 1,286.2 thousand ha according to the legal address of agricultural holding 65.1 thousand located within the administrative borders of the voivodship but used by entities without the registered residence in the voivodship) to % in the Śląskie voivodship (549.7 thousand ha according to user s legal address; thousand ha according to the legal address of agricultural holding 23.5 thousand agricultural holdings located beyond the administrative borders of the voivodship but used by entities with the registered address in the voivodship; in absolute values the largest area was noted in the Mazowieckie voivodship with 81.1 thousand ha). When it comes to poviats, the LLI oscillated between 75.9 % in Września in the Wielkopolskie voivodship (49.7 thousand ha according to user s legal address; 65.5 thousand agricultural holdings according to the legal address of agricultural holding 15.8 thousand ha located within the administrative borders of the poviat but used by entities without the registered residence in the poviat. The under analysis differentiates the spatial distribution of agricultural land; it makes it possible to separate the two basic area types: above and below 100 % (cf Fig. 2). Figure 2. Land location (LLI) for agricultural holdings in Source: Own study based on the results of the Agricultural Census (Local Data Bank by the Central Statistical Office) 1. Recessive type: characterised by a smaller area of agricultural holdings according to user s legal address than the area of agricultural holdings according to the legal address of agricultural holding. The value of the does not exceed 100 %, which means a poor activity of agricultural holdings (farmers) in the take-over of land located beyond the administrative borders of a particular spatial unit. This type includes 10 voivodships, 214 poviats (68 % of all); with the lowest values (below 94 %) noted in 32 units, which were most numerous in the Warmińsko-Mazurskie and the Zachodniopomorskie voivodships (cf Fig. 2). It is a result of a high activity in the take-over of privatised state-owned agricultural holdings by entities not residing in those poviats. 2. Progressive type: characterised by a larger area of agricultural holdings according to user s legal address than the area of agricultural holdings according to the legal address of agricultural holding. The value of the exceeds 100 %, which means a high activity of inhabitants of a particular voivodship or poviat in the take-over of land located beyond the administrative borders of a particular spatial unit. This type includes 6 voivodships, 100 poviats, with a remarkably high LLI values (above 104 %) noted in 37 poviats, usually townships or units located in the neighbourhood of large agglomerations. These figures substantiate a significant role played by inhabitants of towns, cities or suburbs in the take-over of agricultural land in Poland. It applies to the 4

5 acquisition of land for both agricultural purposes, on the one hand, and tourism and recreation, on the other hand. Taking into account considerable differences in the prices of land and the removal of transnational restrictions on acquisition of agricultural land in Poland for EU entities scheduled to come into effect as of 2016, it cannot be excluded that the land will be acquired for speculation as well. In agricultural acreage comprised on average 85.5 % of the total area of all agricultural holdings in Poland. The percentage values varied across voivodships: from 77.8 % in the Małopolskie voivodship to 94.6% in the Opolskie voivodship. In terms of poviats, the figures started with 6 8 % in the townships of Gdynia and Włocławek to reach 96 % in: Dzierżoniów, Strzelno (Dolnośląskie voivodship); Prudnik, Głubczyce (Opolskie voivodship); Pyrzyce and Sławno (Zachodniopomorskie voivodship). A low percentage of agricultural acreage (below 75 %) was noted in 26 poviats, most numerously located in the mountainous areas with unfavourable natural conditions of the Małopolskie voivodship (6 poviats). On the other end of the scale there are 134 poviats where agricultural acreage remains a dominant element in the land use structure of agricultural holdings (above 90 %); these are usually found in the areas with favourable natural conditions in the following voivodships: Dolnośląskie (17 poviats), Kujawsko-Pomorskie (13 poviats), Opolskie (12 poviats), Pomorskie (13 poviats), Wielkopolskie (23 poviats) and Zachodniopomorskie (13 poviats; cf Fig. 3). According to the data collected in the Agricultural Censuses of 2002 and, agricultural acreage depleted by 1,366 thousand ha (from 16,899 thousand ha in 2002 to 15,503 thousand ha in ). The immensity of this decrease allows for making the following conclusion: this is a negative phenomenon which, if continued, may put the national food security at risk. In the analysed period the change for agricultural acreage amounted to 92 points (benchmark for 2002 = 100 points) and demonstrated regional variability: from 83 points in the Śląskie voivodship to 98 points in the Kujawsko-Pomorskie and Wielkopolskie voivodships. Considering poviats, the lowest results of below 80 points were noted in 54 poviats (including 28 poviats in the three voivodships in southern Poland: Małopolskie, Podkarpackie and Śląskie), whereas the highest scores of above 100 points were in 96 poviats (including 38 townships). Figure 3. Share of agricultural acreage in total area of agricultural holdings (as of ) Source: Own study based on data by the Central Statistical Office [GUS] and results of Agricultural Census With the principles of sustainable development implemented in agriculture and the tendency of reducing the dominant position of production in agriculture, it is important to diversify the land use structure in agricultural holdings in such a way that non-agricultural forms of land use are fostered. It is justified by the fact that, apart from the decrease in agricultural acreage described above, the years 2002 were characterised by a sharp rise in the area of agricultural land which was not cultivated, i.e. forest, water receptacles, etc.; the rise amounted to thousand ha (with 2,425.5 thousand ha in 2002 and 2,566.8 thousand ha in ). With reference to this category of land use, the national average of the change equalled 106 points; the highest result was 185 points in the Dolnośląskie voivodship. The increase in the area of those parts of agricultural holdings which were not categorised as agricultural acreage was not observed in the following voivodships only: Małopolskie ( points), Mazowieckie (99 points), Opolskie (86 points) and Podkarpackie (95 points) in southern Poland; Pomorskie (94 points) and Warmińsko- Mazurskie (88 points) in northern Poland (cf Table 1). As far as poviats are concerned, the results oscillated between the figures of below 50 points (19 poviats) and figures of above 200 points (29 poviats). In non-agricultural land comprised on average 14.2 % of the total area of agricultural holdings in Poland. Regional variations were observed (from 5.4 % in the Opolskie voivodship to 22.2 % in the Małopolskie voivodship; cf Table 1); with regard to poviats: below 5 % in 22 poviats (the lowest result of 2.8 % in the township of Piekary Śląskie in the Śląskie voivodship) and above 25 % in 26 poviats (the highest results in the townships of Gdynia with 94.4 % and Włocławek with 91.8 %). According to the Agricultural Census of, on average for every 1 ha of non-agricultural land in the Polish agricultural holdings there were 6 ha of agricultural land, which was 1 ha less than in There were strong regional 5

6 variations here: from 3.5 ha in the Małopolskie voivodship to 17.6 ha in the Opolskie voivodship (cf Table 1). In the case of poviats, the extreme values were noted in two units of the Dolnośląskie voivodship: 0.7 ha in Ząbkowice (the only poviat in the country characterised by a dominance of non-agricultural land over agricultural land) and 28.5 ha in Strzelin. The studies conducted demonstrated that the Polish agriculture sees a decrease in agricultural land, on the one hand, and an increase in non-agricultural land, on the other hand. In order to assess these changes, covering the period of 2002, the analysis included an informing about the relation between the change s for agricultural land (benchmark for 2002 = 100 points) and non-agricultural land (forests and other land in total; benchmark for 2002 = 100 points). The Polish average amounted to The value differed across voivodships: from 0.51 in the Dolnośląskie voivodship (considerably lower change for agricultural land 94 points in relation to the change for non-agricultural land 185 points) to 1.12 in the Warmińsko-Mazurskie voivodship (higher change for agricultural land 99 points in relation to the change for non-agricultural land 88 points; similar relation was also noted in the Opolskie voivodship 1.08; cf Table 1). A spatial analysis proved a substantially higher concentration of poviats with high values of the (above 1.00) in northern and western Poland. For example, in the group of 52 poviats with the result exceeding 1.2 poviats from the Wielkopolskie and Zachodniopomorskie voivodships were conspicuously present (7 poviats respectively), while there were no such poviats in the Lubelskie, Podlaskie and Świętokrzyskie voivodships (cf Fig. 3). In the voivodships where an increase in agricultural land was relatively high in comparison to non-agricultural land, the phenomenon should be ascribed to large areas of the agricultural land which was left unused in 2002 (land set-aside, fallow land mainly within former stateowned agricultural holdings) and to the implementation of a range of Common Agricultural Policy instruments after 2004, including first and foremost the area payments which were an incentive to undertake agricultural activity and maintain land in a good agricultural condition. With reference to the determinants included in the study, the analysis of the general land use structure (100 % total area of agricultural holdings), with the division into agricultural and non-agricultural lands taken into consideration, demonstrated the strongest impact of urbanisation (average from 11 features studied 2.9 points, cf Tab. 1), including mainly the land location 5 points (in the case of the total area of agricultural holdings: from % in country districts to 211 % in townships; such a huge impact applied to both agricultural and nonagricultural lands). In terms of the other determinants, a significant role (at the level of 3 points) can be ascribed to natural factors (average 1.2 points, including e.g. the share of agricultural land in the total area of agricultural holding: from 79.5 % in areas with unfavourable natural conditions to 89.0 % in areas with favourable natural conditions) and functional factors (average 1.3 points, including e.g. land location : from 98.4 % in poviats with the rural function dominant to points in poviats with the urban function dominant). The weakest impact of the determinants studied was found in the analysis of poviats in relation to the CAP payments (average 0.9 points) and ecological factors (average 0.5 points). CONCLUSIONS The total area of agricultural holdings comprises two basic groups of land use forms, i.e.: (1) agricultural land, including (according to Agricultural Census, ): agricultural land in a good agricultural condition and other agricultural land (not in a good agricultural condition at the time of data collection for the Census); (2) non-agricultural land, including: forests and forest land, and other land (e.g. under construction). On the basis of the analyses conducted the following conclusions can be made: 1. The total area of agricultural holdings is on the decrease. 2. In the process of land use structure formation, apart from market mechanisms, a more and more important role is played by organisational changes related to categorisation of a particular holding to or its registration with a given commune (poviat, region). 3. The Polish agriculture witnesses two phenomena: decrease in agricultural land and increase in nonagricultural land. 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