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In an increasingly urbanized world, the scarcity of space is a growing problem along with land consumption and soil sealing. To achieve sustainable development and sustainable land use, society has to resolve conflicts between residential, industrial, transport, commercial and green areas while creating a balance between social, economic and ecological targets. However, coordination of sustainable land use is a challenge for policymakers. The paper examines whether the withdrawal of land from the agricultural land fund leads to development, measured both by the increase in domestic entrepreneurial activity, as well as by the increase in foreign direct investments. The results are based on the analysis of panel data on the amount of land withdrawal, newly established firms and inward flow of FDI covering 41 administrative districts of Slovak Republic over 9 years (6 years in case of the FDI, due to the availability of data). Additionally, the spatial Durbin panel model was used to examine, whether land withdrawal and its non-agricultural use generate positive spillover effects on surrounding regions in terms of increased entrepreneurial activity and flow of FDI.

The paper analyzes the usage of agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes in Slovakia, the historical background of usage and protection of agricultural land with emphasis on its withdrawal and administrative procedure. It describes the historical development of usage and protection of agricultural land. The progress of agricultural land protection legislation correlates with the socio-economic determinants of a specific historical period. The paper reflects the administrative procedure of agricultural land withdrawal and significant measures for its protection. It also describes the decision-making process about the conversion of agricultural land, administrative procedures for agricultural land withdrawal, its reasons and also its conversion into another type of the agricultural land and measures protecting agricultural land acreage.

Protection of the functions and surface area of agricultural land should be the interest of every society and is an expression of the maturity of the country. The paper analyses historical development of the legal regulation on the protection of agricultural land in Slovakia since the establishment of Czechoslovakia i.e. from 1918 to the present, i.e. until 2017.