The management of public and non-public agricultural land in Poland and selected EU countries

Abstract

This article presents the to-date activities in the management of public and non-public arable land in Poland and some EU countries – Lithuania, Germany, France and the Netherlands. The conducted analysis points to similarities in the manner of operation of institutions managing farmland in these countries, and to processes that accompany the institutions' activities. The authors define the management of the State Treasury's agricultural property as activities designed to ensure supervision over turnover in and use of that property. The management of arable land in harmony with rural development and the requirements of environmental protection as well as the need to keep the incomes of population employed in agriculture at a definite level are some of the most important challenges facing European agriculture. The new EU member-states, which have rejected the model of collective and state-operated agriculture, need to solve now new problems with the management of agricultural farms such as the fragmentation of property structure. In Poland, the Agricultural Property Agency (ANR) has been entrusted with the management and administration of arable land forming the property of the State Treasury.