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Land use changes in Czechia in 1990-2010 and their societal driving forces

Publication at Faculty of Science |
2015

Abstract

The article analyses impact of the social and economic transformation in Czechia (Czechoslovakia) after the collapse of the Communist regime in 1989, i.e. its deals with its gradual transition to capitalism (market economy). It focuses particularly on the relatively well developed agricultural sector in the country.

It characterizes the main transformation measures implemented in new state agricultural policy, which are conceived of as political-economic driving forces both in structural and economic changes in Czech agriculture and particularly in land use changes within 1990-2010. These changes reflected the transition of Czech agriculture to a capitalist system of production, the influence of foreign markets, and especially the European Union's agricultural policy.

It is peculiar that the privatization of agricultural land and forests (in the form of land restitution, land sales, and confiscation) had nearly no impact on the farm structure, which was focused on large-scale production. Farm structure remained almost the same as it was before 1989.