On the establishment day of Agricultural Property Agency (APA), i.e. January 1, 1992, there were 18.8 million hectares (ha) of agricultural land in Poland. The majority of land belonged to individual farmers who owned 72% of the entire agricultural area, whereas public and cooperative sectors occupied 28% of it.

Up to the end of 2007 the land of 4.7 million ha was passed to APS which originated from:
• former state enterprises– 3.7 million ha,
• State Land Fund (SLF) – 0.6 million ha,
• other titles – 0.4 million ha.
The property taken over by APA included also 4 thousand food processing, trade and service facilities, 336 thousand apartments with infrastructure (boiler houses, water supply systems, sewage refineries, etc) as well as 2.3 thousand of manor houses, palaces and park complexes.

Results of Land Sale
From the beginning of its activity to the end of 2007 APA sold 1.8 million ha of land (i.e. 36% of area taken to APS) within more than 190 thousand concluded contracts. Land originated from the former state enterprises constituted almost 81% of all sold properties. The number of contracts concerning small properties was the highest because 86% of them were signed for the purchase of properties not exceeding 10 ha. The average area of land sold was 8.6 ha per one contract. In 2007 the average price of 1 ha amounted to 9 774 PLN and increased by 31.5% in comparison to the previous year.
APA took over 336 thousand apartments of which 313 thousand were distributed mainly via sales to their tenants. Besides the land other assets with net book value of 8.6 billion Polish Zlotys (PLN) and liabilities of former state farms amounted to 2 billion PLN were taken over and entirely repaid by APA.

Results of Land Lease
From the beginning of its activity to the end of 2007 APA offered for lease 7.1 million ha cumulatively (sometimes one property was offered for lease more than once).
At the end of 2007 the land of 1.8 million ha were in lease. Number of lease contracts of properties not exceeding 10 ha was the highest and constituted 87% of contracts.

Results of APA Companies Activities
Plant Breeding Companies
APA companies perform both creative and preserved plant breeding. The horticultural breeding companies gather the most valuable genetic material of vegetables, flowers and decorative plants, and the agricultural breeding companies keep the most valuable genetic material of cereals, leguminous and papilionaceous plants, grasses, sugar and fodder beets and potatoes. At the end of 2006 APA owned 367 varieties of agricultural plants and 437 varieties of vegetables.

Animal Breeding Companies
Dairy cattle breeding is a most important branch in APA companies. At the end of 2006 the number of cows in APA sheds amounted to 24 777 heads. The average productivity reached 8 616 kilograms (kg) of milk, 354 kg of fat and 292 kg of protein, with the content of 4.21% of fat and 3.37% of protein. The population of cows in APA sheds constitutes approx. 5% of cows being under control of milking yield in the country. APA companies keep also 54.3% bulls’ mothers of dairy cattle.
Pigs breeding has been performed in 9 companies that have huge piggeries which hold 173 sows in total. In 2006 APA companies had 1 558 sows under control. All races used in improvement program, i.e. Large White Polish, Polish White Landrace, duroc, hampshire, pietrain, are reared in APA herds. The program of hybridization enables breeders to purchase hybrids, boars and sows in appropriate genotypic sets.
At present sheep breeding and production is performed in 7 companies (reproductive flocks in 6 companies). In 2006 the number of ewes in APA companies was 2 599 heads, which is approx. 2.8% of ewes’ stock in the country. There are 5 breeds reared, of which the most numerous is Polish merino with 1 553 ewes. Additionally, the breeding of meat races such as: berrichone, charolaise and suffolk is performed.

Horse Breeding
Horse breeding in studs is carried out according to assumptions for using genetic resources of APA reproductive studs for improvement of domestic horse population. The number of brood mares in APA studs in 2006 was 1 254. APA companies rear 9 horse breeds: 5 companies rear Polish thoroughbreds and 3 purebred Arabians. Their goal is to keep purebred horses used also in breeding of half-blood breeds. 4 companies rear preserved breeds: Polish konik and Hucul Pony. The best stud of hucul breed in Europe is situated in Gładyszów. Polish konik is bred in Sieraków, Dobrzyniewo and Tulce (Kobylniki), where the total of 90 mares are held.

Prepared by
Dr Andrzej Zadura
Plenipotentiary of APA President for Foreign Cooperation
e-mail: azadura@anr.gov.pl
and
Magdalena Zawadzka
Chief Specialist in Department of Analyses and Prognoses
e-mail: mzawadzka@anr.gov.pl