In most European countries, there has been a decrease in the number of farms, while the area of agricultural land has remained almost the same. This ongoing process of land concentration can affect Europe’s small farms and rural areas. The EU has acknowledged that the problem is serious and that, to solve it, it must be studied more closely. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to discuss changes in the agricultural sector from the aspect of land use, with emphasis on land concentration in Estonia, further scientific discussion about the effects of changes in land use on rural areas is encouraged. The study is carried out using two kinds of data sources: (1) statistical data from Eurostat, FAOSTAT and Statistics Estonia, (2) data from the Estonian Agricultural Registers and Information Board. The conclusion of the paper is that while the number of farms is going down, the average area of agricultural land use per farm is on the rise in Estonia. Agricultural land has been increasingly concentrated into the hands of corporate bodies. This study shows that there is a status of land concentration in Estonia that needs ongoing studies and a proper policy should be established to mitigate the impact of land concentration.
The agricultural sector in the European Union is largely characterized by a declining number of farms and an increasing size of surviving farms. The land is concentrating under the usage of fewer large agricultural producers. Meanwhile, a broad distribution of land ownership is the basis for the welfare of local economies and rural communities. Land distribution is one important component that guarantees our right to food, human rights, and sustainability in agriculture. The aim of this paper was to compile a systematic review of the existing literature on large-scale land acquisitions in Europe. The results are based on two different search methods. Firstly, documents and articles on large-scale land acquisitions were studied and, secondly, keyword research from the SCOPUS database and analysis using VOSviewer where performed. This study shows that large-scale land acquisitions are closely related to food security, human rights, global governance and international law, land tenure, biofuel production, and financialization through European Union common agricultural policy subsidies and foreign direct investments.
Land is essential to livelihoods, so it is hard to overstate its strategic significance for well-being and prosperity. It has been detected that farm size greatly influences agricultural sustainability from the viewpoints of the economy, environment, and society. Land concentration is negatively affecting the development of rural communities. Similar to other European countries, Estonia is undergoing agricultural land concentration. One way to stop the further concentration of agricultural land is to set an upper limit to land acquisition (similar to that in Latvia and Lithuania). This paper aimed to determine what kind of regulations concerning agricultural land use and ownership Estonia needs to restrain land concentration. Four sources of data were used for this research: statistical data from Statistics Estonia, the data for the land holdings of agricultural producers from the Estonian Agricultural Registers and Information Board, data from the Land Registry and available literature. The outcome of the study confirmed that Estonia requires policy direction and regulations for the agricultural land market, that would help to lighten the impact of land concentration in rural areas in the long run, similar to several other European countries.
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