The basic function of agricultural areas is, according to the European Charter for Rural Areas, agriculture and preservation of the natural environment based on a well-functioning agricultural sector that operates in harmony with nature. The Council Regulation (EC) 1257/1999 on support for rural development from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee was adopted in 1999. The programmes that are currently binding in the territory of Poland were developed in accordance with the EU policy expressed in the abovementioned acts and other documents concerning development of rural areas. These included: the Rural Development Programme that focused on social and environmental aspects, as well as a part of the Sectoral Operational Programme devoted to the development of rural areas, as well as restructuring and modernisation of the food sector. Based on the priorities of the Council regulation, two strategic objectives have been set: 1) Improvement of competitiveness of the agriculture and food economy, 2) Sustainable development of rural areas. Implementation of these objectives requires the support of the Common Agricultural Policy. Polish European Union membership contributed to setting its objectives and increasing the ability to subsidise economic entities, as well as develop both the food and rural areas economy.

The beginning of Credit Union of Agricultural Cooperatives is linked to Malopolska Region, where agricultural cooperative movement initialized by Stefan Stefczyk in 1899 was captured into concise legal frames called „The Bureau of Patronage over Companies of Savings and Loans at the State Department in Lwow”. That credit institution became seed of Credit Union of Agricultural Cooperatives in Lwow established in 1909. State Credit Union was an outpost of particularly self-governing, state character contributing towards the development of agricultural cooperatives. Soon after regaining independence by Poland after World War I, The Bureau of Patronage over Agricultural Companies in Lwow was reorganized into Credit Union of Agricultural Cooperatives in Warsaw with extended area of operation onto the entire territory of the Republic of Poland. During the Nazi occupation Credit Union of Agricultural Cooperatives still remained the financial centre for agricultural cooperatives. Unfortunately, after liberation from the German occupation Credit Union of Agricultural Cooperatives was forced to cease its activity.

The published document called The report of Kraków’s department of the National Land Bank in 1935 comes from the Archive of New Files in Warsaw, National Land Bank group, catalogue number 28. In the general part there are entries concerning the situation of agriculture in Kraków’s province in 1935. In the second part there is information on the subject of credit activity of Kraków’s National Land Bank department concerning short-term, medium-term and long-term credit, as well as issue credit. The published document can be helpful for the research dedicated to the history of the economics in Kraków’s province during interwar period. Information included in this document are especially valuable for the people dealing with banking and the history of agriculture.

Taxation of producers of the agricultural production in the Kyrgyz Republic

This article is devoted to application of taxes in agriculture of the Kyrgyz Republic. In it problems of the taxation of this branch are considered, and also ways of their permission are offered.

Problems with the systematizing the internal stratification of peasantry

Sources of research and subject literature do not give a clear picture of differentiation of the peasantry in terms of financial status. The problem concerns both the amount of property owned by them (land and livestock) and place in the hierarchy. This fact is very much difficult, sometimes even impossible to study the layers of peasant and any generalizations about it. It seems that the only possible way to study the most populous state in the Republic is to track individual fates of individual units that make it possible not precise enough to qualify for the category of the peasantry, but observe the changes taking place in the financial status over time and associated with the action taken.

Legislation on Family Fideicommissa in the Second Polish Republic

The article describes the creation and content of legal regulations in the Second Polish Republic regarding a special institution, which were family fideicommissa (entails), called in Poland ordynacje rodowe – indivisible estates in the hands of aristocratic families, excluded from the general principles of inheritance, with restrictions in the field of, i.a., disposition and charging. The author proves that the legislation in this respect was influenced by the then agrarian policy and attempts to regulate the land reform. Family laws were perceived in particular as a relic of feudalism contrary to the constitutional order and a policy aimed at basing the agricultural structure on middle and small property and thus raising the social and economic status of the poor masses of Polish peasants. The author describes political postulates in this regard, successive legal acts created by the legislature and the accompanying parliamentary discussions.

The influence of the «Great War» on ukrainian grain production

Introduction. The article analyzes the state of agriculture in Ukraine during the war years 1914–1921, clarifies the factors of destructive impact on the main production and economic elements of agriculture and grain production. The aim of the article is to clarify the factors and scale of destructive impact of military disasters of 1914–1921 on the state of agriculture in Ukraine, in particular on agriculture and grain production as the main production and economic elements. Research tasks set by the authors are the following: to outline qualitative characteristics of the pre-war growth of commodity agricultural production of Ukrainian provinces as the basis of imperial exports; to study the main factors, trends and dominants of destructive influence on the pace of production, economic and socio-political processes during the «Great War» of 1914–1921 on the example of agriculture and grain production in Ukraine. Scientific novelty is determined by the involvement and elaboration of authoritative scientific sources, a critical and unbiased view of the problem. The authors use methodological principles of system analysis, statistical method and content analysis. It is noted that with the beginning of the Great War, positive processes observed in Ukrainian agriculture before the First World War were suspended, and then destructive phenomena began to develop more and more. The disorganization of market relations with the beginning of the war significantly affected economic interests of the peasantry, as evidenced by information and statistical indicators. The number of the rural population during the two years of the war significantly decreased, as did the number of able-bodied men on average per farm. Military and labor duties of Ukrainian peasants to serve the needs of the front, which involved unmobilized male rural population and even peasant women, also exacerbated negative effects of the outflow of labor from agriculture, which hit especially hard on small farms, which were actually ruined. The occupation of Ukraine resulted in a reduction in sown areas and, consequently, a reduction in the gross harvest of grain crops. At the same time, the front’s needs for food resources, including grain, were significant. Both imports and the production of agricultural machinery were also completely disorganized due to the withdrawal of labor, the forced transition of some factories to military rails, and the suspension or hindrance of the supply of metal and fuel. Depreciation of agricultural equipment, cessation of supplies of agricultural machinery, the ever-increasing number of seedless, tax-free and non-stock farms led to a decrease in the quality of land cultivation, which led to a decline in grain yields. Conclusions. It has been found that the «Great War» hit the agriculture of Ukraine very painfully with an unprecedented number of mobilized rural male population to the tsarist army, catastrophic shortage of labor, withdrawal of horses from farms – the main driving force of agriculture, depletion of rural labor. Socio-political and socio-economic cataclysms of the war years led to a decrease in the marketability of peasant farms, respectively, and to a reduction in the volume of marketable bread, and, as a consequence - led to a crisis in the grain market.