The possibilities for transforming Hungarian agricultural land usage

Magda, Sándor – Gergely, Sándor

Keywords: agricultural land usage, structural change, variations of agricultural land usage, exchange rate of agricultural produce expressed in oil, paradigm shift

We stand before a paradigm shift in agricultural land usage in Hungary. The drastic reduction in animal husbandry, the overdue adjustment of the sowing structure of plant cultivation to the reduction in animal numbers, the slump in vegetable and fruit production instead of a potential boom, the drastic increase in the cost of fossil fuels, the increase in the country’s dependence on fuel imports, the harmful effects on the environment and on health caused by the use of fossil fuels, and the decline in the exchange rate of agricultural produce expressed in oil, which has been increasingly noticeable in the past 30 years, all make the exploitation of agriculture and forestry’s capacity for raw material production necessary, in particular the versatile, energetic utilisation of biomass. Energetic utilisation of biomass can take place through the agricultural production of raw materials, the elementary materials of biogas and bio-propellants, needed for energetic heating, through targeted cultivation of fodder crops, oily seeds, and arable lands’ energetic plants, as well as by the establishment of energetic forestation and its targeted, organised utilisation based on a long-term strategy. The production and utilisation of energetic raw materials needs to be an important element of economic and agricultural strategies based on a national strategy.

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