Project number: GS14-09212S
Project title: Farmland Rental Paradox
Programme: GAČR
Project leader: Petr Sklenička
Project schedule: 2014-2016
Total project budget of FES CZU: 2 499 tis. Kč
Abstract:
An extreme agricultural land fragmentation has become a limiting factor of its sustainable usage. Scattered and very small parcels are no longer economically viable for individual land managing. The owners are thus forced to rent out their land to big agricultural businesses which are usually already utilizing the surrounding land. Our last study demonstrates a phenomenon which we called the Farmland Rental Paradox. This phenomenon describes the tendency of very small parcels (< 1,07 hectares) to create huge production blocks and therefore significantly homogenize the landscape structure by renting the land to big agricultural businesses.
It has been proven that the smaller the parcels which are below the threshold 1,07 hectares are, the bigger production blocks they tent to create. This project will analyze the speed of agricultural land fragmentation in the Czech Republic. It will also analyze the methods of defragmentation and the economic impacts of land tenancy dominancy. The Farmland Rental Paradox can be considered as an important cause of economic land degradation of agricultural land due to its expected negative impacts.