Articles containing the keyword 'companies'

The timber companies began acquiring forest land in 1890s which raised concerns about decrease of the number of private farms and agricultural land, as had happened in Sweden earlier. This was not considered to be a major problem in Finland, but the sale of homesteads on former state lands for sawmill companies was considered to be against their objective. One reason for the sale of farms was the farmers’ poor conception of the value of the land. In 1915 three decrees that restricted the right of companies that use timber to buy land were approved. The article discusses in detail the arguments that led to the legislation and compares it to the situation in Sweden.

A survey was commissioned to study the of landholdings of the companies, and to compare it with farming in private and company owned farms. The article includes a study about individual farms in the municipalities of Multia, Heinävesi, Sulkava, Ruokolahti and Luumäki, and about land use in the areas.

The PDF includes a summary in German.

• Renvall, E-mail: ar@mm.unknown
• Boman, E-mail: ab@mm.unknown

The forest ownership of companies had been criticized which led in 1913 to legislation that restricted land purchases of the companies. The aim of the survey was to study the condition of forests in five municipalities in Southern and Central Finland, where landholding of the industry was most common. The companies owned 13-33%, private forest owners 45-83% and the state 1-22% of the forests in the studied municipalities. The forest holdings of the private owners were the smallest, while the companies owned larger estates. The forest site types did not differ markedly between the two owner groups. The dominant tree species in all municipalities was Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.). The age-classes varied in the forests of both owner groups, but in private forests the younger age-classes were more common, mostly due to shifting cultivation practiced in the previous decades. The wood volume of the stands was significantly larger in the forests of companies. The stands were of poorer quality in the private forest due to selection fellings. Forest regeneration was more usual in the company forests.

The text is included in Finnish, Swedish and German.

• Boman, E-mail: ab@mm.unknown