The search of effective methods of agricultural land protection from soil erosion under conditions of land relations’ reform in Ukraine is a complex ecological and economic issue requiring a system approach to its solution, adequate organizational and economic support and scientific argumentation. The topicality of the research is based on the importance of the problem of arable land protection from soil erosion, and its solution is related to ecologically safe land utilization keeping to the principles of balanced development of land management. The aim of the research is to develop scientific basis for the recommendations how to improve the system of erosion-safe agricultural land management under conditions of reforming land relations in Ukraine. The article presents scientific fundamentals of organization of erosion-safe land management in the context of the balanced development of nature management, analyses conditions of utilization and protection of land in erosion-unsafe landscapes; develop scientifically grounded recommendations as to improvement of a system of erosion-safe agricultural land management at a local level. In the process of the investigation a combination of methods were used: monographic, induction and deduction methods, system analysis, cartographic, experimental projecting. A contour organization of the territory is recommended to apply to protect arable land from soil erosion. Reimbursement of money payments and tax privileges can motivate landowners and land users to introduce anti-erosion measures. It is required to consider use value and non-use value of land resources in the process of their estimation for land payments.

The changes in the ownership structure were to be implemented by the Agricultural Property Agency of the State Treasury, which, under the Act of Law of 11 April 2003 on the structuring of agrarian system (i.e. The Journal of Laws of 2012, item 803, as amended), on 16 July 2003 became the Agricultural Property Agency with eleven local branch offices. For the purposes of this article the monographic method was used for the overview of relevant literature and legal provisions, whereas the statistical analysis was employed in the data of the Central Statistical Office and reports on the activities of the Agricultural Property Agency. Until the end of 2015 the main objective of the Agricultural Property Agency was to restructure and dispose of the assets within the Agricultural Property Stock of the State Treasury. Since its foundation, the Agency expanded the Stock by 4.74 million ha. Over time, the operating conditions for the Agency were in a state of flux – they were being adjusted to the changing socio-economic situation. At the beginning, leasing was the basic form of disposal of the Stock land. After Polish accession to the European Union an increased interest in the acquisition of agricultural property was observed. By the end of 2014, as a result of land sale, free-of-charge land transfers or other transactions, approximately 3.2 million ha were disposed of, i.e. about 70% of the whole land which was taken over. Currently, according to the legal provisions, long-term lease is the basic form of disposal of the Stock land.

The purpose of the article is to consider the institutional foundations of the rational use of agricultural land in a multicultural economy. The formation of land use is faced with the acute problem of organizing a sustainable competitive land use, ensuring a high level of marketability of production and a sufficient level of profitability in conditions of the developing land market. This article discusses the rational use of agricultural land in a multicultural economy, taking into account structural and resource indicators. The efficiency of land use in farms with different land ownership depends on increasing labour productivity, strengthening the economic regime, increasing the intensification of production, using internal reserves and agricultural production opportunities, and, especially, rational use of land. The greatest efficiency of production and use of land has been achieved in large agricultural formations, where high-performance equipment is used, crop rotations are observed, and there is greater availability of credit resources, subsidies, and leasing. The monitoring data of the Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Statistics for 1.01.2020 indicate that 93.7% of peasant farms have a land area of up to 500 hectares. To the greatest extent, small-earth peasant farms have become widespread in the southern region, where the share in the total number of up to 50 hectares is 90.1%, while in the northern region only 8.1%, central — 3.9%, and western — 11.3%. In this regard, the tasks of preserving productive agricultural lands, and optimizing arable land and acreage in terms of quantitative and qualitative characteristics of land become a priority. The solution to these tasks is connected with the improvement of technologies for maintaining and increasing the bio-productivity of agricultural lands, the development of technologies for rational land management, land use, and land protection, the creation of effective organizational and legal mechanisms for managing agricultural lands, as well as the development of state monitoring of agricultural lands. Optimization of land use in farms and agricultural enterprises of based on the proposed methodology, taking into account state support measures, will create a basis for a new stage in the development of land reform and will create incentives for the effective use of agricultural land.

This study aims to develop a methodology for determining and calculating the limit size of agricultural land plots that can be leased by individuals and legal entities of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The article substantiates agricultural production after the current long-term lease terms end. The basic condition is the formation of land use, in which there is a close dependence on conditions and factors of production, where land, material resources, and labour are in certain proportions and balanced. The main criteria for determining the limiting sizes of land are: land area, leased to a single entity should not exceed 1/3 of the area of farmland rural district specific administrative area, and the physical person no more than 15% of the area of agricultural enterprises of the same specialization. Emerging land uses should be subject to zonal specialization by natural and agricultural zoning; take into account the minimum thresholds for the area of crop rotation in the crop production sectors and the size of livestock in herds of different types of livestock by the breed composition in the livestock industry.

The article presents an analysis of changes in the agrarian landscape and the subdivision of its plots, using three Lithuanian municipalities as examples (Kaunas, Trakai and Šilutė). Statistical, comparative and multicriteria analysis methods were applied in the study. It was found that in all the studied municipalities, the area of the agrarian landscape was decreasing during the study period. The largest decreasing trends were in the municipality of Šilutė district, where the area covered by agrarian landscape decreased by more than 3%. At the same time, in the municipalities of Kaunas and Trakai districts, the area of agrarian landscape decreased quite evenly and did not reach 3%. It was also found that the number of agricultural holdings also decreased: by 27% in Kaunas district municipality and by over 33% in Trakai district municipality, but the area of agricultural holdings increased in all of the studied municipalities: in Kaunas district by over 5%, in Trakai district by over 37% and in Šilutė district by over 8%. The average size of a farm in Kaunas district remained rather stable, increasing by only 1%, in Šilutė district municipality the average farm size increased by more than 71% and in Trakai district municipality the tendency was the opposite, i.e. the average farm size decreased by more than 36%. The multicriteria analysis shows that the most common factors influencing changes in the agrarian landscape and its subdivision of plots vary between municipalities, but in general the following factors influence the changes in the agrarian landscape and its subdivision of plots: the land productivity score, the number of inhabitants, the distance to the centre of the city, the average size of the farms, the number of holdings, and the amount of land area occupied by bodies of water. The information collected and the results obtained show that in the municipalities analysed, the causes of change in the agrarian landscape and its subdivision of plots have a positive impact on the sustainable development of agriculture and rural areas.

Aspects and factors of agricultural land transformation are analysed in the work. Taking into account the world experience of land transformation, directions for improving the development and control system of land management projects implementation in Ukraine are offered. The compliance issue by land users with established types of agricultural land according to the data of state registers is highlighted. Nowadays, land management projects that provide ecological and economic substantiation of crop rotation and land management make it possible to develop environmentally safe and economically feasible land use projects. In production, the above-mentioned projects are sometimes used to transfer ecologically stabilizing lands (pastures and hayfields) to arable land. This is controversial to all recommendations, conventions and programs that emphasize the need for reduced ploughing of the territory. It is necessary to improve the control mechanisms of crop rotation and agrotechnical environmental protection measures. The introduction of land plots agricultural passports is an important but insufficient measure. The remote sensing data of the earth and the use of modern geoinformation technologies should become part of the state control over compliance with land management projects. There is already experience of using various indices at the state level to decipher agricultural crops. As a result of the research, we came to the conclusion that the use of land remote sensing data and modern geoinformation technologies in land management will make it possible to bring the indicators of ploughed areas to a rational level, while not creating artificial restrictions on economic activity. The methodical and regulatory acts for the development of land management projects, which regulate the size of the ecologically safe land area need improvement. agricultural lands transformation, land management project,

In Ukraine, intensive agricultural use involves a significant area of land with degraded and unproductive soils, which is economically impractical and ecologically dangerous. Part of the land was impacted by military activities. One of the tasks of sustainable development in Ukraine is to stop the process of land degradation, achieve a neutral level of land cover degradation, and promote the restoration of their productivity. This can be achieved by growing energy crops on degraded soils. Energy crops can grow on infertile soils and accumulate a significant amount of biomass, which is an important argument in favour of the development of green energy. The purpose of this study is to determine the specifics of planning work on the phytoremediation of degraded lands when using energy plants and the subsequent production of fuel pellets and briquettes. The focus is on measures to comply with the requirements for the content of pollutants in solid biofuels, which will be made from energetic plants used in the process of phytoremediation of degraded soils. The ratio of pollutant concentrations in soil and plants to their maximum permissible concentration in biofuel is proposed to be used at phytoremediation planning. This study substantiates recommendations for planning the phytoremediation of soils impacted by military activities using energy plants. These recommendations, in particular, concern: the choice of plant species; estimates of the duration of the phytoremediation process; application of precision farming methods in phytoremediation of lands; use of stochastic models of the phytoremediation process.

The purpose of the article is to consider the features of the anthropogenic impact on agricultural land in the Republic of Kazakhstan (RK). The article deals with the current problem of agricultural land degradation, and desertification in Kazakhstan, where one of the causes is the anthropogenic activities of the population and the aridity of the country's climate. Most of the territory of Kazakhstan is located in conditions highly vulnerable to anthropogenic desertification when in combination with natural factors of desertification the ecological situation is sharply deteriorating. Another cause of land degradation is urbanization and intensive degradation of desert habitats — unsystematic road network, regulation of river flows, illegal cutting of saxaul for firewood for sale. As a result of urbanization and intensive agricultural development of the foothill strip in the south and east of the country, the natural vegetation cover is highly disturbed. Roads, pipelines, and power lines, which are being laid at an increasing rate, have a great impact on the fauna. The area of land occupied by mining enterprises is steadily growing. In the last 10 years, the areas of oil and gas extraction, development of uranium ores, etc. in Western Kazakhstan, the Eastern Caspian Sea region, the Betpakdala desert, etc. have been sharply increasing. As a result of insufficiently thought-out land management from water erosion 5.6 million hectares of arable land was affected and grain yield was reduced by 20–30%. Degradation of agricultural lands, including pastures, is 30–50% and higher % in 9 of 14 regions of Kazakhstan. The use of the existing model of agricultural development of raw materials leads to inefficient economic development and constantly increasing pressure on ecosystems. The soil in Kazakhstan is very vulnerable, as it is comprehensively affected by various anthropogenic factors that lead to the constant deterioration of its quality. Soils near the Aral Sea and the Caspian Sea are subjected to the most intensive degradation, as wind erosion is widespread there.

The solution of preserving and restoring the soil fertility problem of agricultural lands in the process of economic activity is one of the main tasks in achieving global food security. Implementation of a complex of soil protection measures, as a rule, ensures the preservation and even growth of soil fertility. Therefore, the purpose of the article is to determine the economic efficiency of introducing soil protection measures in the use of agricultural land. For this purpose, the following tasks were set and solved: the analysis of the current state and trends of the land resources use in agriculture; to investigate the tendencies of carrying out measures on preservation of soil fertility and prevention of its degradation; to substantiate scientific and methodical estimation principles of economic efficiency of introduction of soil protection measures in the conditions of Ukraine. The following basic methods were used to solve the research objectives: monographic analysis – when developing scientific publications on environmentally friendly use of agricultural land; comparative and statistical analysis – in studying the dynamics of the structure of the land fund of Ukraine by main types of land and economic activity; system-structural analysis and grouping – in the study of the nature and content of ecological and economic consequences of soil degradation, as well as approaches to assessing the economic effectiveness of soil protection measures; economic analysis and calculation of relative indicators – to evaluate the economic efficiency of soil protection measures in the process of agricultural land use; abstract-logical method − for theoretical generalizations and conclusions formation, etc. Established that soil degradation is now one of the most important industrial and environmental issues, which is the main reason for the inability to achieve high rates of environmental and economic efficiency of land use in the future. It was also substantiated scientific and methodical approach to determining the economic efficiency of soil conservation measures in the current market conditions, which is based on the additional income that is received as a result of increase crop yields on protected lands. It is established that effective protection of soils from degradation is possible with the systematic implementation of soil protection measures complex, developed taking into account the specific natural and economic conditions of each region or agricultural enterprise. The priority directions of realization measures on land protection are given.

Having analysed research results, it is ensured that sustainable land use of US agricultural lands for the support to farmers to improve the efficiency of their major activities and adherence to the principles of soil protection and rational land use in farms. An analysis of the American experience allows us to make conclusions that the success of the process of improving land relations depends on the level of their scientific validity, the degree of balance of government regulation and the degree of coordination of participants’ interests in transformations and land market transactions. Land lease in the United States of America as one of the economic methods of land use regulation has been analysed in the article. It has been established that long-term lease relations are beneficial for both parties concerning soil improvement and pollution control in case of clear legislation. Having analysed foreign experience, the main measures of land use rationalization in the USA, which people can use in Ukraine, have been proposed. It is also possible to implement the US experience in actively controlling the ecological condition, intended use and other quality characteristics of agricultural land to improve regulation of land use in Ukraine. After analysing the measures for land protection in the United States, taking into account the considered and researched American experience of agricultural land use, ways to improve the existing system of use and protection of agricultural land in Ukraine are proposed.