Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0407/04072.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 41KB | 648 lines

$Unique_ID{COW04072}
$Pretitle{373}
$Title{Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany)
Chapter 5.    Agriculture}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Darrel R. Eglin}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{percent
farmers
production
farm
agricultural
farms
million
hectares
west
prices}
$Date{1982}
$Log{German Beer Stein*0407201.scf
}
Country:     Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany)
Book:        Federal Republic of Germany, A Country Study
Author:      Darrel R. Eglin
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1982

Chapter 5.    Agriculture

[See German Beer Stein: German Beer Stein]

     Since Industrialization began more than a century ago, farming's share in
the economy has been declining. In 1980 agriculture, including some forestry
and fishing, contributed only 2 percent to gross national product and employed
less than 6 percent of the labor force. Most farm activity was oriented toward
livestock production; and milk, beef, and pork accounted for over 60 percent
of the value of farm output. Small farm size, combined with other structural
problems, made it difficult for farmers to support a family by farming alone.
The agricultural policies of the government and of the European Communities
provided high commodity support prices and a protected market to help maintain
farm incomes and improve rural living conditions.

     In 1980 the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany or Federal
Republic) was the world's largest importer of agricultural commodities. Large
imports were necessary to compensate for deficiencies imposed largely by
nature. Cotton and most other natural fibers had to be imported, and more
favored areas abroad supplied the bulk or all of the oilseeds, rice, coffee,
tea, and spices because domestic commercial cultivation was not feasible.
About one-fifth of imports were commodities for livestock feed. The country's
degree of self-sufficiency in foods was nearly 90 percent if production from
imported feed was included but only 70 percent from purely domestic output.

Land Use

     Almost two-thirds of the country is hilly or mountainous, placing narrow
limits on land use and on the organization of farming. The country has a
variety of soils, most of which have low fertility but respond to careful
management. A relatively late spring and summer limit possibilities for crops
requiring warm temperatures. Even though natural conditions are not
particularly favorable for agriculture, farming is conducted throughout the
country. The states (Lander) with the largest amounts of agricultural land are
Bavaria, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Baden-Wurttemberg, and
Schleswig-Holstein (see fig. 1). The first three states accounted for about
three-fifths of agriculture's contribution to the gross national product
(GNP).

     The country's total area amounts to nearly 24.9 million hectares,
according to the classification system adopted in 1979. Forests and woodland
account for 7.3 million hectares, about 30 percent. Urban areas, building
sites, wasteland, and lakes and marshes occupy 3.5 million hectares. By the
new classifications, in 1980 agricultural land totaled 14.1 million hectares
(57 percent of total area) but only 12.2 million hectares on the basis of the
former system. Opportunities for bringing new land under cultivation were very
limited. Farmers had long ago made the effort to drain and develop areas that
would support crops.

     In 1980 nearly 4.8 million hectares of the 12.2 million hectares of
agricultural land were permanent pasture and grassland. The cropped acreage
(called arable in official statistics) was 7.3 million hectares, 29 percent
of the total area. In addition vineyards occupied 96,000 hectares, fruit and
tree crops 54,000 hectares, and other horticultural uses 75,000 hectares.
Since the late 1930s the cropped or arable acreage has slowly declined by
nearly 1.5 million hectares, but the figure was imprecise because of changes
in definitions over the years. The decline of the cropped area resulted from
spreading urbanization, fewer farmers and farms, and withdrawal of some
marginal plots from cultivation and a return to grass or woodland.

Organization of Agriculture

     West German agriculture has consisted primarily of independent farmers
operating very small holdings. Farming has been intensive rather than
extensive. In 1980 there were just under 800,000 farms of one hectare or more.
The average size of these farms was 15.3 hectares. About 51 percent of farms
were between one and ten hectares; only 13 percent of the farms were thirty or
more hectares; and less than 0.4 percent of the farms exceeded fifty hectares.
In addition there were about 100,000 or more holdings of less than one
hectare. The small farm size hampered adoption of modern production techniques
and realization of economies of scale. Moreover incomes of farmers with small
holdings were usually insufficient to support a family.

     Many factors contributed to the problems of agriculture. Over the
centuries partible inheritance in several regions of the country reduced farm
size and caused considerable fragmentation of holdings. Fragmentation was
most severe in the southern and southwestern parts of the country where the
Napoleonic Civil Code (Code Napoleon-civil law of France) had become the basis
for equal sharing of family land and buildings among all of the children on
the death of the head of the household. A study in 1960 showed the average
farm consisted of nearly ten separate plots, each averaging 0.8 hectares.
Variations from these averages were considerable, however, with a high number
of plots and smaller average size on farms with ten hectares or fewer.
Fragmentation reduced efficiency because of the time wasted in travel between
widely separated plots and difficulties in the use of machinery and the
application of chemicals on such small areas.

     Compounding the problems of the small farms was the development in the
latter part of the nineteenth century of large-scale grain production under
far more favorable conditions in parts of the world such as the United States
and Canada. The concurrent growth of the German transportation system
facilitated the distribution of imported agricultural products. The needed
structural adjustments in German farming to these changing conditions were
postponed by various government measures that enabled farmers to survive.
Distortions were aggravated under Hitler. Agricultural autarky became
government policy, and numerous controls over production, prices, and
marketing were instituted. The regime enacted measures to promote and preserve
a large farm population but did prohibit the sale and further fragmentation of
many of the country's farms.

     Even with the small farms, German agriculture introduced modern practices
wherever possible as they became available in the twentieth century. Rotation
systems, chemical fertilizers, insecticides, and other developments raised
yields but also costs. When the Federal Republic was formed in 1949,
agriculture was in need of considerable structural adjustment. Many of the
controls over agriculture were removed, and market forces began to exert
pressures to rationalize farm activities. Nonetheless the government adopted
several programs to ease the problems of adjustment for farmers (see
Agricultural Policy, this ch.).

     Since formation of the republic, the number of farms has fallen by more
than one-half, and the average size has risen. In 1949 there were more than
1.6 million farms of one hectare or more. By 1980 there were 797,500 such
farms. The average size increased from 8.1 hectares in 1950 to 15.3 hectares
in 1980. The number of farms fell most sharply among those of ten hectares or
less, while there was an increase in farms of twenty hectares or more. Farmers
withdrawing from farming usually did not sell their land, fearing that they
might need the land in the future. In earlier years substantial amounts of
this land were left uncultivated (called social fallow). In t