Thoughts on land policy

Nagy, Frigyes

Keywords: land policy, farm structure, lease, land price, things to do

Viewing land first of all as a production asset, I think practical thinking is useful rather than nostalgia. There are two generally held views in this field. One is the liberal approach, i.e. that land is a production asset used to make profit just like any other production asset, as a basis of classical extended reproduction. The other approach ignores economic categories and views land as the treasure of the nation, the basis of farming life and a source of life itself. Should this latter theory ignore the factual characteristics of land which exist whether we want then or not, we come to the present situation of Hungarian agriculture, i.e. that apart from some raw materials, we are eliminated from the market. Let’s not pretend otherwise – this is the truth. Our typical mass products hardly require a labour force, our farmers have less and less to do and their livelihood is in jeopardy. The ones to survive – and fortunately there are ore and more of them – are those who stop daydreaming and instead take into consideration the laws of economy, take advantage of the regulatory system, and manage themselves. They strive to maximise profits to reach an acceptable level of living standards, public dues, while allowing additional expenditure. Rather than focusing only on development projects, they secure the necessary revolving funds, while employing sustainable green production methods. They consciously keep traditions alive without basing their actions on them. This ambitious group of farmers is a reason for optimism.

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