Trends for agricultural land-use in the CEECs following the collapse of the Eastern Bloc

Abstract

The main cognitive goal of this study is to diagnose and identify trends for agricultural land-use structure in the CEECs. Particular attention has been paid to the spatial differentiation characterising that structure, and to the significance that diverse kinds of conditioning have had in shaping it. Analysis has extended to the main structural elements that are grasslands and arable land, while the countries included are the CEECs acceding to the EU at different times, i.e. Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Croatia, Slovenia and Bulgaria. EUROSTAT and the FAO have been the main sources of relevant materials. The region under study emerges as very much differentiated in terms of structure relating to both grassland and arable uses. However, once the Eastern Bloc fell, all the CEECs experienced losses in area of grassland, as well as declines in the amounts of land growing perennial-type crops. Where key crops were concerned, the shares of industrial species have increased at the expense of the cultivation of vegetables, fruit and potatoes. Key factors underpinning observed trends for land use have been the privatisation and restitution of land, demographic processes in rural areas, domestic and EU agricultural policies, and agroecological conditions.