<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Transformational changes after 1989 were primarily caused by major social changes, including those in the economy and agriculture. Slovakia is also affect by globalization processes. The aim of this article is to characterize the changes in agricultural land use and their spatial distribution in relation to the political transformation of society after 1989, using the Dunajská Streda, Levice, Prievidza and Stará Ľubovňa districts as examples. These districts contain all individual agricultural production types in Slovakia. Changes in agricultural land use were analyzed on the basis of the total areas of land use categories for these districts between 1980 and 2010 and for municipal cadastral areas in selected districts between 2000 and 2010. Two basic indicators of changes in land use were selected for this purpose. The first was the percentage increase or decrease in individual land use categories and the second was the dominant processes in land use based on analysis of the main landscape processes. The cumulative surfaces of selected crops and their products were analyzed using a simple continuous diagram depicting the course of harvesting areas between 1980 and 2010. Crop yields were analyzed by linear regression. The tendency for disappearance of agricultural land use was confirmed in the less agriculturally active areas of Slovakia. This decrease in agricultural land use was at the expense of an increase in urban areas and in the processes of greening, forestation and water body construction.</p></abstract>

Transformational changes after 1989 were primarily caused by major social changes, including those in the economy and agriculture. Slovakia is also affect by globalization processes. The aim of this article is to characterize the changes in agricultural land use and their spatial distribution in relation to the political transformation of society after 1989, using the Dunajská Streda, Levice, Prievidza and Stará Ľubovňa districts as examples. These districts contain all individual agricultural production types in Slovakia. Changes in agricultural land use were analyzed on the basis of the total areas of land use categories for these districts between 1980 and 2010 and for municipal cadastral areas in selected districts between 2000 and 2010. Two basic indicators of changes in land use were selected for this purpose. The first was the percentage increase or decrease in individual land use categories and the second was the dominant processes in land use based on analysis of the main landscape processes. The cumulative surfaces of selected crops and their products were analyzed using a simple continuous diagram depicting the course of harvesting areas between 1980 and 2010. Crop yields were analyzed by linear regression. The tendency for disappearance of agricultural land use was confirmed in the less agriculturally active areas of Slovakia. This decrease in agricultural land use was at the expense of an increase in urban areas and in the processes of greening, forestation and water body construction.

Changes in Agricultural Land Use in the Context of Ongoing Transformational Processes in Slovakia

Soil Science and Conservation Research Institute, Gagarinova 10, 827 13 Bratislava, Slovak Republic

Comenius University in Bratislava, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Regional Geography, Protection and Planning of the Landscape, Mlynská dolina, 842 15 Bratislava, Slovak Republic

Comenius University in Bratislava, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Physical Geography and Geoecology, Mlynská dolina, 842 15 Bratislava, Slovak Republic

Agriculture (Pol'nohospodárstvo)

Transformational changes after 1989 were primarily caused by major social changes, including those in the economy and agriculture. Slovakia is also affect by...

Changes in Agricultural Land Use in the Context of Ongoing Transformational Processes in Slovakia

Published Online: Jul 30, 2013

Page range: 49 - 64

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/agri-2013-0005

This content is open access.