Silva Fennica Issue 92 includes presentations held in 1956 in the 8th professional development courses, arranged for forest officers working in the Forest Service. The presentations focus on practical issues in forest management and administration, especially in regional level. The education was arranged by Forest Service.
The main part of arable land that could be cleared out into fields lies in Northern Finland, where climate conditions restricts agriculture. This presentation discusses conditions for profitable agriculture and settlement activities in the north.
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.