Norwegian Journal of Geography Restitution of Agricultural Land In
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This article was downloaded by: [Holt-Jensen, Arild][Universitetsbiblioteket i Bergen] On: 16 September 2010 Access details: Access Details: [subscription number 907435713] Publisher Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37- 41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift - Norwegian Journal of Geography Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t713735796 Restitution of agricultural land in Estonia: Consequences for landscape development and production Arild Holt-Jensen; Garri Raagmaa Online publication date: 15 September 2010 To cite this Article Holt-Jensen, Arild and Raagmaa, Garri(2010) 'Restitution of agricultural land in Estonia: Consequences for landscape development and production', Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift - Norwegian Journal of Geography, 64: 3, 129 — 141 To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/00291951.2010.502443 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00291951.2010.502443 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.informaworld.com/terms-and-conditions-of-access.pdf This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, re-distribution, re-selling, loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material. Norsk Geografisk TidsskriftÁNorwegian Journal of Geography Vol. 64, 129Á141. ISSN 0029-1951 Restitution of agricultural land in Estonia: Consequences for landscape development and production ARILD HOLT-JENSEN & GARRI RAAGMAA Holt-Jensen, A. & Raagmaa, G. 2010. Restitution of agricultural land in Estonia: Consequences for landscape development and production. Norsk Geografisk TidsskriftÁNorwegian Journal of Geography Vol. 64, 129Á141. ISSN 0029-1951. Two prominent features of present-day Estonia are large tracts of formerly productive land laid idle and production buildings of collective farms in ruins. However, in some areas most farmland remains actively used. An investigation of possible ‘landscapes of action’, both for national decision-makers and single landowners, can help with understanding recent transformations. The article examines local responses to the land restitution and agricultural restructuring measures adopted by the Estonian Government in the 1990s and the resulting effects on the cultural landscape and agricultural development. Restitution was politically necessary, but has had a number of unexpected effects on landscape development and agricultural production. Among the negative effects have been new speculative land-use patterns of urban sprawl around the larger cities. However, where large production units could be converted to capitalist enterprises and where agricultural land is good, agricultural production has been maintained. The article demonstrates how individuals and local communities interpret opportunities and obstacles set by personal ambitions, local conditions, and general policies. Case studies of the former collective farms in Sauga, Surju and Tori municipalities show that the proportion of unproductive agricultural land and recent development of ownership structures show marked differences from case to case. Keywords: cultural landscape change, large- and small-scale farming, production unit, restitution, transition economy Arild Holt-Jensen, Department of Geography, University of Bergen, Fosswinckelsgt. 6, NO-5007 Bergen, Norway. E-mail: arild.holt- [email protected]; Garri Raagmaa, Department of Geography, University of Tartu, Vanemuise 46, Tartu, EE-51014 Estonia. E-mail: [email protected] Introduction declined by 88% since 1991 (Reiljan & Kulu 2002; Raagmaa et al. 2009). Most of the farmland is, however, still actively A typical feature of the present-day Estonian landscape is used in central Estonia and other locations with the best that large tracts of formerly productive land lie idle, partly soils, and new farm buildings are present in the rural overgrown with bushes (Fig. 1). Other features are former landscape. large production buildings of collective farms more or less The aim of this study is to illustrate with examples some in ruins and partly deserted blocks of flats built for local effects of the agricultural restructuring and land collective farm workers (Figs. 2 and 3). The impressions restitution policies adopted by the Estonian Government are confirmed by Estonian statistics: since 1990 productive and the more recent effects of the European Union (EU) farmland, measured in sown crop area, has decreased by agricultural policies. The case studies are intended to provide 50%. A significant decline in gross agricultural production insight into how individuals and local communities interpret has occurred, there is a trade deficit in agricultural possibilities and obstacles set by policies and local geogra- production, and the number of agricultural workers has phical situations. Downloaded By: [Holt-Jensen, Arild][Universitetsbiblioteket i Bergen] At: 09:49 16 September 2010 Fig. 1. Ruins and scrub overgrowth on a pre-World War II farm in Sauga Fig. 2. Ruins of pig-breeding collective in Sauga (Photo: Arild Holt-Jensen (Photo: Arild Holt-Jensen 2009) 2007) DOI 10.1080/00291951.2010.502443 # 2010 Taylor & Francis 130 A. Holt-Jensen & G. Raagmaa NORSK GEOGRAFISK TIDSSKRIFT 64 (2010) of individual actors (e.g. farmers). These are influenced by functional and structural factors, including farming and national ideologies (Jones 1988). Eiter & Potthoff (2007) discuss the concept ‘driving forces’ in analysing changes in land use and vegetation cover in a historical perspective. Direct and indirect driving forces include social and owner- ship structures, values and attitudes, prices and subsidies, legislation, transport facilities, technical innovations, poten- tial productivity of an area, and geographical location in relation to markets. Such driving forces are clearly related to behavioural geography, as introduced by Wolpert (1964) in his comparison of actual and potential agricultural produc- tivity on farms in central Sweden. He found that the sample farm population did not achieve profit maximization, nor were its goals solely directed to that objective. The farmers Fig. 3. Blocks of flats for collective farm workers at Selja Collective Farm in were ‘spatial satisfiers’ rather than ‘economic men’. The Tori (Photo: Arild Holt-Jensen 2007) main influence on their farming performance came from personal factors such as age, whether or not they had heirs When analysing agricultural and landscape changes in the that would continue farming, economic ambitions, educa- transition period from 1991, particular attention has to be tion, and income from other jobs. given to institutional or structural factors. Some of these are Bech Sørensen (2004, 361) points out that the farmer’s embedded in historical legacies, former institutional struc- landscape of action in Estonia has a special background tures and national sentiments. There was a political need to ‘formed out of the turbulence of political and economic break completely with the Soviet system of collective farms transition and agricultural restructuring’ that has taken and return the land to native Estonians. However, as pointed place since 1990. Equally crucial for understanding the out by Unwin et al. (2004, 110), key international organisa- landscapes of meaning and action are the long historical tions such as the World Bank and the International traditions that link Estonians to their land and also the Monetary Fund (IMF), which had a rather crude under- fundamental transitions from landed estates and serfdom to standing of ‘transition’, have also influenced the develop- freehold farming in the period 1919Á1940 and the brutal ment. Demands to reduce public expenditure and services Soviet collectivisation after 1945 (Peil 1999). and the ‘shock therapy’ of a shift to market liberalism have had a number of negative consequences for the agricultural economy. Since joining the EU in 2004, Estonia has been Legacies of the past included in the support systems of the Common Agricul- tural Policy (CAP). This gives priority to the largest The Estonian rural landscape has been in part shaped by producers. Restitutee farmers complain that the support large production units such as manors, collective farms, and system is complicated and that the policy does not take into capitalist enterprises Á and now in suburban areas real-estate account the special and acute need for investments in companies. Small-scale farming has been seen as an ideal, buildings and modern equipment in Estonia. Our empirical but dominated rural land use only in the relatively short investigations focus on the responses and adaptations of the period 1919Á1940. individual landowners to the local conditions, general The pre-1850 period was characterised by noblemen’s policies, and economic trends. landed estates of manors and their associated villages.