Verbesserung und Effizienzsteigerung landwirtschaftlicher Verfahrenstechnik durch wettbewerbsorientierte organisatorische Maßnahmen (English shop)

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The changes resulting from technical and biological progress in conjunction with a barely increasing demand for agricultural products will shape the structure of agriculture. Consequently, on a large scale, agricultural production may become concentrated in those regions which, owing to pedological and climatic conditions, offer relatively favourable preconditions for production that is optimised in terms of process technology or capable of generating income.

For disadvantaged regions, or marginal sites, which are characterised by relatively unfavourable natural conditions together with equally unfavourable agrarian structural conditions for agricultural use, it can be foreseen that agricultural land will increasingly fall fallow in the future.

This process of the complete abandonment of agricultural land use in particular has been accelerating in peripheral regions in recent times.

For this reason it is appropriate to use the arable land in Dautphetal efficiently and, insofar as it meets economic requirements, also sustainably. This means that the existing arable land is to be reorganised and farmed anew.

The arable land in question is characterised by steep slopes, moist valley bottoms and floodplains, and very stony, poor soils. The small-scale division of the land is the result of the partible inheritance (Realteilung) practised in this region.

The local farmers seek to consolidate individual smaller parcels, since an enlargement of the area leads to a reduction in work performance costs, as on the one hand the area output increases through the use of larger machinery and on the other hand labour costs decrease.

The aim is therefore to record the current situation in the study region of Dautphetal and to examine the effect of a municipality-wide reorganisation of the land, i.e. the extent to which the consolidation of fields into larger management units is reflected in the work performance costs.

The following approach led to the achievement of this objective.

The reduction of work performance costs is to be achieved through the corresponding possibilities of structural improvement by forming larger management units, for example also through the elimination of unpaved tracks. Furthermore, work performance costs are to be reduced through the targeted application of low-cost procedures. For this purpose, the labour and machinery costs of the individual operational steps, mainly in arable and additionally in permanent grassland management, are calculated for one crop rotation and three tillage variants (ploughing, mulch seeding and direct seeding).

In order to examine possible forms of managing consolidated land, the land consolidation procedure under the German Land Consolidation Act (FlurbG) was first presented, and subsequently Auernhammer’s experiences with “Gewanne” (block) farming were explained. Land consolidation procedures require a time frame of approximately 10 years and as a rule bring about a doubling of the prevailing field sizes. Block farming has the advantage that, on the one hand, it leads to a faster and more efficient enlargement of areas and, on the other hand, ownership relations remain unchanged.

The approach of a municipality-wide virtual land consolidation was carried out in a first step by determining the current situation using the software AutoCAD, digitised parcel maps, questionnaires, site inspections and discussions with the farmers concerned on site.

After the data obtained had been analysed, individual parcels could be consolidated in advance during the preliminary planning stage and unpaved tracks could be ploughed up. Isolated arable parcels with unfavourable geometry were converted into permanent grassland. In this way, larger management units could already be created at an early stage.

In the subsequent virtual consolidation of the land, management units averaging 3.61 ha could be formed in the reorganisation, under the premise of relatively good soil conditions.

In addition to the area aspect, the next step quantifies the monetary effects of a virtual land consolidation.

A further important aspect is the choice of the form of enterprise, since this virtual scenario could be implemented in reality. For this reason a lessors’ cooperative (Verpächtergenossenschaft) is established, which is gaining in advantageousness with regard to the current draft legislation on the decoupling of area payments, since lease prices, for example for permanent grassland, will rise.