Economy, Agriculture

Cultivated land covers 52 percent of Hungary’s total area. During the Communist period about 90 percent of all farmland was organized into collective and state farms. State farms were owned and managed by the government; in collective farms, families would work together on jointly owned land, and each would receive a salary and a share of the farm’s earnings. In the early 1990s the post-Communist government began returning many of these farms to private ownership. Severe droughts during this time, combined with a drop in government subsidies, caused a significant decline in agricultural output.

Hungary’s leading agricultural products in the mid-1990s were corn, wheat, sugar beets, barley, potatoes, and sunflower seeds. In addition, grapes were grown in the famous vineyards of the Tokaj region. Livestock included cattle, pigs, sheep, horses, and poultry, and important livestock products included milk, meat, butter, eggs, and wool.