Excerpt
As a result of groundbreaking elections in 1989, governmental transformations put Poland on a course that led to a parliamentary republic and a market economy. These transformations replaced central governmental planning and resulted in more large farms planting row crops (especially cereals), a decrease in the use of fertilizers, and a decrease in cattle and sheep production. At the same time, Poland saw an increase in crop fertilizer use efficiency, an increase in production and quality of milk, and an increase in quality and weight gain efficiency of pigs. In the last fifteen years, the country has also seen advances in soil and atmospheric environmental quality.
Agriculture and working the land are important to Poland. In 1999, agriculture covered 18.4 million hectares, 45.5 million acres or 58.8 percent, of Poland's land area (Bialousz, 2000; Krasowicz, 2001). Between 1999 and the present, the amount and distribution of agricultural enterprises within the country have been relatively stable. Much of the agricultural area (46 percent) is in field crops. More than 38 percent of the population lives in rural areas (Jagielinski, 1996; Wieckowski, 1997) and 25 percent work in agriculture (Zietara, 2002).
Farm income generally decreased when compared …
Footnotes
Jerzy B. Lipiec is a professor of soil science at the Institute of Aglophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences in Lublin, Poland. Stanislaw Krasowicz is a professor of agronomy at the Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation in Pulawy. Poland. Ryszard A. Debicki is a professor of soil science in the Department of Soil. Science at the Maria Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin, Poland.
- Copyright 2004 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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