One look at a map showing form uses of land use (MAP illustrating land use) in Poland convinces us that two form uses dominate in our country: farmland and forests. Together they occupy over 88% of the territory of Poland.

The location of Poland in the belt of great European plains has significantly influenced the way land is utilized. Thanks to the dominating type of natural landscape: plains and large hilly country areas are suitable for cultivation, poor quality of the soil notwithstanding. It is no wonder that 59.77% of the territory of Poland is occupied by farmland, arable land totals 14,269,000 hectares and permanent pastures occupy about 4,100,000 hectares.

Arable land is uniformly spread throughout the whole country. This distribution is best illustrated by statistics showing the share of arable land in proportion to total acreage within voivodships. The share of arable land is between 26 and 66%, and in as many as 35 voivodships it is larger than 40%. The size of shares is mainly influenced by surface features and soils. That is why the voivodships that have the lowest shares of arable land are mountainous: Jelenia Gora , Krosno, Nowy Sacz. In the case of Zielona Gora, Gorzow Wielkopolski and Pila, their weak soils are occupied to a large extent by forests.Grains clearly dominate agricultural land uses. In 1994 grains occupied over 59% of arable land. Potatoes occupied 11.9% and industrial crops about 5.9% of the acreage of arable land. Rye has recently become the most popular grain. In 1994 rye was sown on 2,430,000 ha, while wheat occupied 2,410,000 ha, barley – 1,030,000 ha and oat – 670,000 ha.

Farmland is the only form of land use which is systematically decreasing. In 1994 the total area of farmland was 18,690,000 ha and was 879,000 ha less than in 1979 and 411,000 ha less than in 1980 (See graph). In comparing current acreage of farmland with that in 1970, it is apparent that the decrease in acreage was accompanied by an increase in acreage of forestry (270,000 ha), settlements (260,000 ha), idle land (135,000 ha), terrain used for transportation (about 100,000 ha), surface water (over 30,000 ha) and mineral extraction (14,000 ha). Compared to 1946 the share of farmland fell from 65.6% to 59.8% in 1994. This fact, in connection with the increase in population of Poland caused a decrease of per capita acreage of farmland. In 1980 this figure was 0.54 ha per person, in 1994 it was only 0.48 ha. Permanent grassland, both permanent meadows and pastures, occupy 4,100,000 ha, which is 13.1% of Poland. Poland is one of the poorest European countries in this respect. In 1991 the acreage of permanent grassland in Poland was 3,891,000 ha.
Permanent pastures occupied 1,512,200 ha or 38.9% of permanent grassland, while permanent meadows occupied 2,375,800 ha or 61.1% of the total.
The spacial distribution of permanent grassland in Poland is very uneven. The distribution depends on the existence of habitat conditions favourable to grassy ecosystems, mainly the occurrence of sufficent amounts of water. Meadow habitats in Poland do not depend on high precipitation for moisture but rather on maintenance of a high level of ground-water during the growing season. This is why such large areas of grassland exist in the middle lowland part of Poland where precipitation is usually lowest, totaling 500 mm annually. In comparison, the southern highlands have precipitation totaling during the year up to 900 mm, which is why the least amount of meadows is located there. The existence of large meadows in the lowland part of Poland results from occurrence of favourable habitats, such as wide river valleys, in which the level of ground water is maintained at a fairly high level throughout a large part of the year.

This uneven distribution of grassland in Poland is confirmed by statistical data. Information published in 1994 by the Central Statistical Office shows that the largest amount of grassland exists in the Bialystok voivodships where it occupies 211,000 ha, 5.15% of the total acreage of grassland in Poland. The next largest voivodship is Olsztyn – 203,000 ha (4.95%), then Suwalki – 190,000 ha (4.63%), Ostroleka – 139,000 ha (3.39%), Lomza – 130,000 ha (3.17%), and Siedlce – 136,000 (3.32%). On the other hand the voivodships with the smallest amount of grassland are: Lodz – 14,900 ha (0.36%), Cracow 37,000 (0.89%) and Wloclaw 33,000 (0.80%). The northeast region of Poland has the greatest concentration of grassland. This area is characterized by the shortest vegetation period, the lowest temperatures throughout the year and average precipitation totalling 600 to 700 mm annually.

Meadows in Poland are to a large extent artificial. They were formed as a result of riverside forest clear-cutting or by turning former tillable fields into meadows and pastures. Natural concentrations of meadows exist only on small areas, mainly in the mountains. In Poland, very few of the meadows are properly cultivated. The meadows are either too dry because of badly performed reclamation or too wet. Few of the meadows produce high yields of valuable hay. Similarly, pastures are usually over-grazed, and thus not very productive.

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