Obrót ziemią rolniczą w opiniach rolników z województwa warmińsko-mazurskiego

The aim of this study has been to explore how the Act on Halting Sale of Real Estate of the State Treasury Agricultural Property Stock influenced the trade of agricultural land. The survey, based on a questionnaire designed by the author, covered 120 farmers from three districts (the Districts of Iława, Olsztyn and Ostróda) in the Province of Warmia and Mazury, Poland. The survey was conducted in the first quarter of 2016. The results, together with a review of the literature as well as an analysis of the Act of 16 April 2016 on Act on Halting Sale of Real Estate of the State Treasury Agricultural Property Stock and Amending Certain Other Acts, have shown that the above law should contribute to more rational management of this specific resource, i.e. farmland (not expandable, not movable, essential for agricultural production), which was the legislator’s intention. Many of the farmers who responded to the questionnaire (3/4 of respondents) implicated certain restrictions in land trade that they may encounter due to the above act of law, of which the strictest are the farmland purchase being restricted to individual, private farmers (41.67% of indications) and more paperwork connected to the land sale/purchase (40.0% indications). The research results confirm that non-market (familial) land trade in Poland occupies an important position, as over 2/3 of the respondents have received their farms from parents or parents-in-law, and another 13% have inherited farms from other relatives. Farms which had been either donated or inherited were then enlarged by adding farmland purchased or rented. The consequences of the above Act, also because of numerous exceptions it makes provisions for, e.g. a possibility to apply for a special permit to sell or buy land, will be seen in the future, and therefore deserve further studies.