Question for my Polish friends

[pumpkinpatch]

I've been playing quite a few Polish maps lately and loving them. But I can't help but notice how many long, narrow fields they have. It's very convenient for farming. Just drive the combine up and down it a couple times and you're done. But it does make me wonder: Are the fields in Poland really like that? And if so, how did that come to be?

[Dixie Farmer]

Have a look on Google Earth, it looks like they do have long narrow fields, no idea why though.

Interesting question.

[blue_painted]

I'm think it's the inheritance system, similar to the Napoleonic code, where farms are sliced up equally between the survivors.

I could be wrong, of course

[chedly_farms]

I've been playing quite a few Polish maps lately and loving them. But I can't help but notice how many long, narrow fields they have. It's very convenient for farming. Just drive the combine up and down it a couple times and you're done. But it does make me wonder: Are the fields in Poland really like that? And if so, how did that come to be?

I'd like to know as well why the field are like that. They do have a mixture though. Some fields are long and narrow and then you have huge, gigantic fields. It's weird. I was doing a satallite image search of Osina and found the mixture of both as the map is very accurate, as far as field dimensions.

[Lexie]

I'm not Polish, but this has something to do with the Soviet period. Big fields where part of the state and after the Soviet era ends, they split the fields to small pieces and give individual farmers a small piece. Maybe now some fields are combined back together again, what explains the bigger fields.

[DEERE317]

That could be, and were split into that shape due to the convenience the pumpkin patch discovered.

[JWE75]

I think that Poland has traditionally lots of small family-owned farms. Runned in old small villages. History, agriforestry and farming culture explains a lot why fields are shaped like that... but as a member of EU and farming nowdays where there is crazy pressure for big farming (*censored*) is changing things all over the world.

Here in Scandinavia we also have mostly family farms connected to agri-forestry but a lot of smaller farms quits every year and the bigger ones buy the lands etc. Good thing is that here the local agriculture and politics controls the changes with common sense. Dairy farms for example favor grass silage and non-antibiotic production. Off-topic little but no worriers

[pumpkinpatch]

I'm not Polish, but this has something to do with the Soviet period. Big fields where part of the state and after the Soviet era ends, they split the fields to small pieces and give individual farmers a small piece. Maybe now some fields are combined back together again, what explains the bigger fields.

Very interesting. I was suspecting it might be something like that. Thanks for the reply!

[blue_painted]

I'm not Polish, but this has something to do with the Soviet period. Big fields where part of the state and after the Soviet era ends, they split the fields to small pieces and give individual farmers a small piece. Maybe now some fields are combined back together again, what explains the bigger fields.

Very interesting. I was suspecting it might be something like that. Thanks for the reply!

I think it's older than that, I saw a reference to medieval strip-farming somewhere: I'll try to find it again.