Positive experiences:

• it allowed for more efficient agricultural practices
• it allowed for mechanisation in agriculture
• it allowed for a shift from subsistence farming towards economic farming practices, selling produces on the market
• it allowed for further professionalisation of the sector
• it improved infrastructure and water management
• it combined other land policy instruments, like farm relocation, land banking, 'expropriation' with compensation in land or money etc.
• enables an integrated approach combining several aims beyond agriculture

Negative experiences:

• the rational allocation of land for agriculture proved to have a negative impact on biodiversity and loss of habitat 
• the enlargement of farms - partly facilitated by LC - led to industrialised forms of agriculture, not taking into account welbeing of livestock and easy distribution of diseases
• the landscape quality was reduced, especially when LC mainly was aimed at agriculture
• the reallocation of land had a considerable impact on people and on communities
• due to enlargement of farms, more pesticides and fertilizers were used, leading to environmental pollution
• industrialised forms of agriculture (livestock) lead to higher health risks for the people too 

FAO has supported the introduction of land consolidation and the National Land Consolidation programme in North Macedonia through different project since 2014. By the end of the EU and funded and FAO implemented MAINLAND project in 2022, the national programme was fully operational. I think that the experiences from the introduction of land consolidation in North Macedonia are also very relevant for other countries following the same path. The lessons learned in North Macedonia were published in 2023: https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en?details=cc7573en 

The experience of land consolidation at the national level varies greatly from country to country due to differences in the main challenges of rural development; historical, social, and economic conditions; the quality of land consolidation law; and the way it is implemented.

In Poland, different (both positive and negative) experiences can be associated with several different periods of land consolidation project implementation. The first period is related to the period in which the first Polish Land Consolidation Act of 1923 was in force (the total area of land covered by the projects was 5.4 million hectares until 1939). The projects were implemented mainly at the request of the owners (although they did not have to be the majority). In addition to improving the parameters of land fragmentation, tasks related to land improvement, allocation of land for public purposes, improvement of road quality, and some tasks in the field of spatial planning were carried out. Public perception of the effects of these activities was most often very positive.

The 1968 Land Consolidation Act had completely different experiences. Compared with the 1923 Act, the rights of landowners were very limited (practically in most stages of the project), and the dominant model was "mandatory land consolidation.” Projects implemented at the owners' request had to be co-financed by them to a significant extent, which is why the share of such projects was small. The Act also allowed land exchanges (even without the consent of land owners) for the purpose of creating large state farms (although the typical collectivization of agriculture was not carried out on a large scale in Poland). As part of the projects, access roads of appropriate quality and other planned investment activities were often not implemented; very often, the construction of roads was postponed for a very long time after the formal completion of the project. During the period in which the Act was in force, land consolidation projects were implemented in an area of 4.5 million hectares, but a very large part of these projects was implemented despite the negative attitude of the majority of landowners. The result of this approach was the negative attitude of farm owners towards the implementation of land consolidation projects, which lasted for several decades and is still visible today in many parts of Poland.

Positive experiences from this period include a significant improvement in land fragmentation parameters and the creation of modern cadastral documentation for villages covered by the projects.

The subsequent Act on Land Consolidation and Exchange of 1982 (in force until now) introduced the dominant model of "majority-based" land consolidation (financed by public funds), where both the initiation of the project and all key decisions are voted on by landowners or performed with their participation. However, the negative experiences from the period 1968-1981 meant (in combination with the public finance crisis that began in the early 1980s) that the interest in implementing projects decreased rapidly (or rather became realistic) from approximately 400,000 ha/year (1970s ) to 40,000 ha/year in the early 1980s and to less than 10,000 ha/year in the early 21st century. The main negative experience from this period was (again) the lack of implementation of most of the investments accompanying the projects of the new system of property boundaries (mainly in the field of construction and improvement of the quality of roads) and the projects lasting a very long time (the longest project lasted 25 years).

The quality of land consolidation projects (and the way they were perceived by landowners) began to change only after the start of financing these projects from European Union funds (first in 2004-2006 as part of several pilot projects, then in the subsequent several-year financing periods of 2007-2013, 2014 -2020 and (current) 2021-2027. The main change from the owners' point of view is the shortening of the duration of projects and the implementation of all planned investment activities, as well as the visible (although still too slow) evolution of projects towards the multipurpose model of land consolidation.

Positive experiences:

1. it was part of a large programm for the transition of the agriculture in the 1950 in the Netherlands.
2. it helped very much to enlarge nature areas in the period 1975-2000
3. important to improve roads and waterways in the Netherlands
4. important to have an active landbank als part of the landconsolidation 

1. By sharing experiences (the positive or negative) in LC, we can learn from successful implementations as well as challenges faced. This exchange of knowledge enables Ukraine to adapt strategies to suit local contexts, avoiding pitfalls and maximizing benefits.

2. The Parliament and the Government of Ukraine are currently in the process of developing draft laws aimed at improving land relations, including LC. Ukraine's agricultural landscape has undergone significant changes, with almost 28 million hectares of agricultural land transferred to 7 millions of individual landowners as a result of free privatization. However, the average size of land holdings is relatively small, leading to fragmented landscapes and challenges in efficient land use.

3. The introduction of market circulation of agricultural land in Ukraine from 2021 further underscores the urgency for effective land consolidation measures. This transition necessitates the development of legislative and organizational principles to consolidate land holdings, fostering sustainable agricultural practices and rural development.