Abstract One of the key strengths of Hungarian agriculture lies in its extensive farmland resources, which cover nearly 60 percent of the country’s territory. A central policy question concerns whether access to agricultural land should be regulated through strict legal constraints or through more market-oriented, liberal mechanisms. Hungary has consistently chosen the former approach. Although the legal framework explicitly aims to support small and medium-sized family farms, it has not slowed the ongoing concentration of land or the structural transformation of the sector. Over time, this regulatory system has required numerous amendments as loopholes emerged or overly complex provisions proved impracticable. This study examines how land-use regulation has influenced the structural evolution of Hungarian agriculture, with particular attention to the ways in which legal frameworks shape access to land, patterns of use, and the distribution of farm sizes.
Gabriella Bánhegyi (Sun,) studied this question.