Area differentiation of agricultural land on the example of Tomsk district

Abstract

The relevance of the research is caused by the need to optimize the size of land plots to improve the organization of using agricultural land in the area of risky farming. The aim of the study is to analyze the existing spatial distribution of land plots for agricultural purposes to choose the ways to optimize their use. The objects of the research are the 3309 agricultural land plots of 25 farms located in the South/East of Tomsk region. Methods: analytical, cartographic, correlation, regression and cluster types of analysis. Results. The authors have analyzed the sample of 3309 land plots from 25 farms of the Tomsk district, and determined its main stati/ stical indicators. Polymodality of the sample and its nonconformity to the normal distribution were established by nonparametric me/ thods of analysis. Based on the hierarchical cluster analysis, the authors proposed the taxonomy (total plot size, scale, standardization by proximity to the regional standard, relative deviations from the standard, relative sizes and affiliation to the farm) and classification of areas for agricultural land plots. Agriculture accounts for 44 % of the total. Almost half of the land is used for fodder crops, and 7 and 2 %, respectively, for garden and vegetable crops. Gray forest soils dominate (45 % of plots), 14 % of plots are covered with light gray forest soils, and 11 % are covered with all other types. Sod deep/podzolic, sod/gley and sod/gley soils are rarely found on agricultural lands. The position of land in the landscape is mainly eluvial (72 % of the plots) and transeluvial (21 % of the plots). Less than a hundred of plots are characterized by superaqual soils. It is shown that in the Tomsk district such factors as soil type, soil bonitet, position in the landscape and economic purpose do not affect the area of the agricultural plot. A linear relationship was established between the ave/ rage land area and the number of land plots in the farm, which indicates the standardization of the land plots, after selection.