Production value of agricultural land – a factor determining the consolidation of land – case study

University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Department of Environmental Engineering and Geodesy, Leszczyńskiego 7 20-069 Lublin, Poland; zanna.krol@up.lublin.pl

^* Corresponding author: zanna.krol@up.lublin.pl

Abstract

Land as a means of labour and agricultural production is a very important or even the most important good of a farmer. For centuries spatial structure of Polish rural areas was determined by historical and legal, social and economic, political, economic, technical and demographic conditions. A characteristic feature of land is the fact that it is a part of nature used for plant production but at the same time it is not a product of human labour so it cannot be replaced by a different means of production or its area cannot be increased. Soil quality is one of the most important factors determining potential high income from agricultural activity. Agricultural land quality is expressed as soil class and its suitability for cultivating specific plants or groups of plants – as soil and agricultural complexes. Throughout Poland uniform classification of soil was applied taking into account soil morphology and its physical properties. The study contains elaborate descriptive and cartographic material such as classification maps in the scale equivalent to cadastral maps. In studies concerning spatial and economic phenomena occurring in rural land, respective villages are grouped into larger typological units with respect to similarity of their features. The classification was used in developing a method for the appraisal of land for land consolidation and exchange works. The classification according to land uses can be applied in economic practice better by being expressed as a single number in the form of a productivity ratio rather than a soil quality index. This is the premise underlying the purpose of this paper – calculating the ratio of productivity for cropland and grassland for the needs of identifying villages similar in that respect.

The studies were carried out in 116 villages in the county of Łęczna in Lublin voivodeship. Data relating to surface of respective classes of soil was retrieved from the land and buildings register and the calculation of the ratio was based on scores assigned on a 100-point scale.