Research Projects

Abstract

Initiatives of family farms have been coming to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food for many years, highlighting the lack of agricultural land for their existence and development. This problem is highlighted by different stakeholder groups. The fact is that the Agricultural Land and Forest Fund of the Republic of Slovenia manages more than 60,000 ha of agricultural land owned by the Republic of Slovenia, and about half of this land is leased to agricultural companies. When amending the Agricultural Land Act, there was evident bipolarity of interests of agricultural holdings (family farms on the one hand and agricultural enterprises on the other), so it is necessary to prepare a comprehensive analysis of leasing agricultural land owned by the Republic of Slovenia.

The purpose of the research is to prepare the starting points and bases for the amendment of the Agricultural Land and Forests Fund of the Republic of Slovenia and the Agricultural Land Act.

Detailed objectives:

• analyse the current management of agricultural land owned by the Republic of Slovenia, which is managed by the Agricultural Land and Forest Fund of the Republic of Slovenia;

• on the basis of analyses, find a model of priority order for the lease of agricultural land managed by SKZG RS;

• analyse and make proposals for improving the process of leasing agricultural land;

• define the rationale for the introduction of a land cap in the lease of an individual lessee;

• analyse the possibility of reallocating the lease of agricultural land from large tenants to family farms;

• analyse the impact of a possible reallocation of agricultural land lease on total agricultural production and the food chain;

• propose several scenarios or possible solutions for improving the management of agricultural land owned by the Republic of Slovenia;

• prepare an expert basis containing an analysis of the current management of agricultural land owned by the Republic of Slovenia and proposals for systemic solutions in the field of leasing agricultural land owned by the Republic of Slovenia;

• make proposals for the redistribution of the lease of agricultural land owned by the Republic of Slovenia, by evaluating the proposed redistribution to total agricultural production and the food chain.

As part of the project, we will try to answer the following research questions:

1. What are the existing practices and models of agricultural land management in Slovenia and comparable European countries?

2. What is the impact and effectiveness of measures to limit and redistribute the lease of agricultural land on total agricultural production and the food chain?

3. What would be the possible scenarios for transforming the system of leasing state-owned agricultural land?

We will use different methods of data acquisition and analysis to find answers to the above questions. Work on the project will be organized in 4 work packages. Each work package is defined in more detail with the envisaged goals and methods of work, and the activities are defined within the work tasks. 

The results will provide an overview and analysis of existing available data and practices on the operation and role of land funds in the management of state-owned agricultural land. We will also perform a detailed analysis of the effectiveness of the land fund. These activities will enable the creation of an analytical model with which we will be able to test the effects of different scenarios for the management of state-owned agricultural land (introduction of land caps, redistribution of existing leased land, directing leases to young farmers, ..). The model results will be the input for the development of proposals for alternative management scenarios, which will be the basis for the development of proposals for systemic solutions for the lease of state-owned agricultural land after the evaluation with stakeholders.

Researchers

The phases of the project and their realization

Work on the project is organized within 4 working packages.

WP 1: Analysis of the current management of agricultural land in the Republic of Slovenia with a comparative analysis in other countries and identification of the need for interventions

Task 1 State of the art analysis

Task 2 Comparative analysis and evaluation of solutions

WP 2: Assessment of the effects of different models of restriction and redistribution of leases.

Task 1 Creation of model proposals

Task 2 Impact assessment

WP 3: Alternative proposals for regulating leases of state-owned agricultural land

Task 1 Proposals of alternative scenarios

WP 4: Project management and dissemination of results and transfer into practice

Task 1 Coordination and management of the project and the project team

Task 2 Dissemination of project results and coordination with other CRPs

Task 3 Content and financial reporting