Forests as a form of land use in Poland’s agricultural holdings

Abstract

The article aims to analyze the state of forest resources within agricultural holdings, their changes and spatial differences. The following research questions have been posed: what is an impact of environmental determinants and non-environmental factors on the pace and trends in changes with regard to the spatial difference in the share of forests in the total area of agricultural holdings? Do the occurring changes in the share of forests in agricultural holdings result from farmland afforestation or land transfer, including forest land? The research covers the years 2002 and 2020. The analysis was conducted by voivodeships (provinces) and poviats (counties), on the basis of unpublished materials provided by the Head Office of Geodesy and Cartography in Warsaw and the results of Agricultural Censuses available at the Local Data Bank, Statistics Poland. The analysis showed that in 2002–2020 there was an increase in the forest area in agricultural holdings. Overall, during this period, 108.9 thousand ha of forests were added, which is 8.5% of their area. The rate of this growth was at 8.6% and was higher than that of the total forest area in Poland (5.6%). As a result, forests within agricultural holdings made up 14.6% of the total forest area in Poland in 2020 compared to 14.2% in 2002. The increase in the forest area as well as the share of forests in agricultural holdings result primarily from the afforestation of farmland and land under natural succession, which is confirmed by the higher dynamics of changes in the forest land area in agricultural holdings compared to the rate of changes in the total forest area. Only in more than ten poviats did farms increase their land resources by way of purchasing other land. The general increase in forest land observed nationwide in farms is spatially diversified. Next to the poviats with minor changes, there are units with a high increase in forests with respect to this ownership, as well as those where the resources were depleted or remained unchanged. The distribution of forests and forest-use holdings was shown to be strongly spatially concentrated, which is proved by the concentration of about 55% of the forest area and the location of these holdings in four voivodeships situated in the eastern part of the country. At the same time, in 2020, the largest forest area per one agricultural holding (4.2 ha) was recorded in Pomorskie Voivodeship, whereas the highest increase in the rate during the investigated years was observed in Pomorskie and Warmińsko-Mazurskie Voivodeships. It was found that the spatial difference in the share of forests in agricultural holdings results from the impact of environmental determinants. The high shares of this type of land were typical of areas with unfavorable natural conditions. However, the rate of an increase in the forest area in 2002–2020 was the largest in areas with favorable natural conditions, which suggests irregularities in the farmland afforestation process. The assessment of the spatial distribution of forests also confirmed a significant influence of urbanization and historical factors. The largest proportion of forests in agricultural holdings was recorded in areas inhabited by a predominantly rural population and in former Austrian and Russian partition territories. However, in urban poviats and in former Prussian partition territories characterized by a small share of forests in the total area of farms, their rate of growth was the highest in the investigated period. This means a desirable increase in the woodland cover of urbanized areas and a rational use of land that is unsuitable for farming.