Some illusions still survive

Buday-Sántha, Attila

Keywords: land estate policy, concentration, land lease, inheritance, small farmers, family farm

The Editorial Board has invited me to present my opinion on the state of the agro-economy and land ownership. To address the issue, I start from István Kapronczai’s high quality, very detailed paper. I do not think, however, that it is helpful to introduce and contrast in his paper new terms (sustaining capacity, viability, competitiveness) which would warrant a separate analysis themselves, drawing conclusions which cannot be expected to meet general agreement, just like the disputes surrounding the issue of small and large farms. This way it is nothing but a revival of the small farm vs. large farm dispute in a new form. The essence of this is that in developed countries, two to three per cent of the farms stop operating every year, probably due to their poor sustaining capacity and competitiveness – in other words, because they are not viable. The problem here, I think, is that if we focus on these terms, we do not pay attention to the essence of the issue, the essence that has brought about the current situation of the Hungarian agriculture. For a topic like this, one can bring up examples for any opposing point, if we focus on the situation, but in this case the tendency, the process is the important thing rather than the situation.

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