THE HISTORY OF SURVEYING ACTIVITIES IN THE AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVE SPACES OF POLAND IN THE YEARS 1918-1989

Society at large has rather little awareness of the issues involved in surveying, as the results of surveying work rarely assume spectacular forms. The current paper aims to fill the gap in knowledge on the role of surveyors in the restructuring of farming in Poland with the aim of increasing its efficiency and improving working conditions in the sector. As a person who for many years had been directly engaged in surveying as a practitioner, the author had at his disposal all of the materials (statutes, decrees, instructions) connected with the organization surveying work. The problem of the surveying in the farming sector is highly complex, so the author describes its various elements in a logical order. After a brief historical introduction, he discusses in detail some of the key issues involved, such as the parcelling out of farmland and the consolidation of farmland, as well as the exchange of farmland, joint land property and land easements. In the part of the paper devoted to the land reform, the key topics include state and cooperative ownership of land, the assignation of land for construction, the classification of land and the keeping of land records, as well as planning the organization of large commodity farms. The paper indicates that surveyors played a crucial role in the restructuring of farming in Poland.