The governmental agricultural policy at a crossroads

Alvincz, József

Keywords: agricultural policy, land estate policy, land estate consolidation, farm regime, land law

The envisaged measures concerning changes to the land estate and farm structure in agriculture, outlined in the National Rural Strategy Concept 2020 (NRSC 2020) are or paramount importance to the present and even more to the long-term future of Hungarian agriculture. These issues will automatically affect land ownership as well, naturally.
Today, Hungarian agriculture is dominated by land use based on lease. Under the land law currently in effect, agricultural partnerships are only allowed to farm lands leased from the state or from natural persons until the land ownership restriction expires on 30 April 2014. They - as well as individual farmers farming larger areas - obtain a de facto solution for the fragmented structure of land ownership through these land use arrangements. (Farms using land in excess of 100 hectares comprised 4.5% of all agricultural enterprises receiving subsidies in Hungary in 2009, and their share in all land used for agricultural production was 61.7%). Their interests are therefore, understandably, rather contrary to estate consolidation. If the current situation persists, however, the smaller - chiefly family-run - farms are unable to become stronger due to the lack of arable land, and no new family-run farms can be established. This also worsens the position of land owners with respect to leasing or selling their land. The only option for owners of jointly owned lands and for land share owners is to lease their land, the boundaries of which are not charted.
Estate consolidation, which needs to be resolved through legislation, should be coordinated with the development of the new land law and the law on farm regime. At the same time, the voluntary nature of estate consolidation should be emphasized. This does not exclude the mandatory imposition of estate consolidation if a consolidation plan for a certain district is supported by many landowners.