THE PRICE OF AGRICULTURAL LAND, TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THE COST OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES OF SOILS

Abstract

According to the latest data of the State Service of Ukraine for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre on the normative monetary valuation of farmland in the regions of Ukraine, the results of calculations of the minimum and maximum initial price of agricultural land in Ukraine are given, as well as the average cost per hectare, which is almost one and a half times higher than their approximate starting value, announced with the opening of the domestic land market. The classification of factors of change of the price of hectare of agricultural land structured in three groups is proposed and accordingly specified: i) general factors of formation of the price of agricultural lands; ii) factors of price increase; iii) factors reducing the price of agricultural land. For the first time, such a factor in the formation of the price of agricultural land as the amount of income from the consumption of ecosystem services is presented and revealed. The importance of this factor is proved by the results of monetary assessment of the contribution of two types of ecosystem services of agricultural soils of local ecosystem assets of the Mykolayiv Oblast: regulatory services for soil carbon retention provided by the soils of lands of natural growth of agricultural crops, and providing services for the supply of crops provided by the soils of agricultural lands..
The results of hypothetical extrapolation of the value of the contribution of the providing ecosystem service for crop supply, which produced by chernozem soils of agricultural lands of the ecosystem assets of the territorial community of Semenivka village of Mykolayiv Oblast to the size of the initial value of agricultural lands of the regional ecosystem assets of the Mykolayiv Oblast are given. As a result, a much more expensive, but more realistic indicative price per hectare of land for the region is obtained, taking into account the amount of income from the use of such an ecosystem service of chernozem soil. It is concluded that there is a strong potential for growth of agricultural prices in the regions of Ukraine, as well as the actual unpreparedness of the starting price positions of the land market in Ukraine, primarily due to inconsistency of the current initial land price with objective socio-economic realities.