Conditions underlying the agricultural land turnover in Poland in the context of institutional solutions

Abstract

The market of agricultural real estate in Poland is divided into two segments: the private and the state one. The state market is dominated by the state fiduciary institution called the Agricultural Property Agency (Agencja Nieruchomości Rolnych, the ANR). The agency is responsible for managing agricultural real estate resources which belong to the Agricultural Property Stock of the State Treasury, in compliance with the Act on the Management of the State Treasury Agricultural Property and according to other relevant regulations and documents, which define the direction and scope of activities pursued the ANR for the sake of privatization of agricultural property owned by the State Treasury, and to achieve the goals of the Polish state’s social and economic policy, especially for the benefit of the countryside, agriculture and food production. The purpose of our study has been to present the institutional solutions adopted in Poland for the turnover of agricultural land owned by the State Treasury, in which the Agricultural Property Agency is a participant. Land selling is a prevalent form of permanent land management (over 46% of the farmland incorporated into the Agricultural Property Stock of the State Treasury has been sold). Over 30% of the said land stock is still leased. Land makes a very specific type of resources, immovable and non-multipliable, hence the state’s intervention on the market with respect to this production means is necessary. In Poland, it is performed with an aid of the Agricultural Property Agency. It should be remembered that in taking economic decisions not only economic but also ecological criteria should be considered.