The influence of soil parameters on the price of agricultural land in Slovakia

The article analyses the relation of market prices in the agricultural land market and selected pedological characteristics of traded lands. During the period of 2009–2018 in 12 districts of Slovakia more than 153,000 plots with different pedo-ecological and geographic conditions have been analysed. Based on soil types, texture composition, steepness, gravel content, and depth, corresponding price levels were derived, and <i>soil price maps</i> were developed. The highest valued soils are of chernozem type (EUR 1.64 m⁻²), loamy soils (EUR 0.86 m⁻²), soils on flat land (EUR 1.09 m⁻²), slightly gravelly soils (EUR 1.02 m⁻²), and deep soils (EUR 1.10 m⁻²). The land price is evidently highly correlated with its qualitative parameters. Using GIS technologies, the entire territory of Slovakia has been categorized by this means and a so-called basic map of agricultural soil market prices in Slovakia has been created.