Agricultural impacts and profitability of land consolidations

The study evaluates agricultural impacts and profitability of land consolidations. The study analyses how land consolidations improve the property structure and how much it reduces the farming costs. The study also calculates whether the ensuing benefits exceed the costs incurred. The study material included 12 land consolidation projects that were implemented in Finland. Standard statistical methods, production cost calculations and feasibility analyses were used to analyze the material. Overall the study showed that land consolidation is an effective and feasible land management tool for the improvement of property structure. The average production costs were discovered to decrease 15% due to the significant improvement of property structure. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier Ltd.