Environmental assessment of land as a basis for improving the efficiency and sustainability of agricultural land use

Abstract

Today, in agricultural land use, there is an increase in environmental problems, deterioration of environmental indicators, which negatively affect the economy of the agro-industrial complex. Elimination of negative environmental consequences often requires huge financial costs, which significantly exceed the costs of maintaining and protecting the environment, as a result of which production yield and the profitability of individual enterprises decreases, as well as the efficacy of the industry as a whole. The only way to preserve soil quality is to introduce economic mechanisms for greening land use, the most important of which is the environmental assessment of land. The aim of the research was to develop a concept for improving the efficiency and sustainability of agricultural land use based on environmental land assessment. The presented two-stage methodology for assessing the ecological state of arable land made it possible to reflect the nature and degree of manifestation of negative processes, as well as to establish the degree of anthropogenic impact on agricultural landscapes. The materials of the conducted environmental assessment served as an objective basis for the development of the concept of rational and environmentally sustainable land use within the boundaries of the municipal district and made it possible to formulate measures to improve the efficiency and sustainability of the use of arable land by agricultural enterprises.