Germany
Germany has seen huge structural changes in agriculture since the end of the second world war and especially in the last 25 years. Today, Germany is one of the main European agricultural powers but this evolution has come at a major cost. Problems now faced in the country include the disconnect between agriculture and society, the reduction of agricultural products to mere commodities, the loss of peasant farms and farmers, and the loss of (bio)diversity and knowledge.
Farmland has also experienced a number of key changes, which have resulted in difficulties accessing land for agroecological farmers: the concentration of land, increasing environmental degradation, the lack of farm successors, the lack of access to capital for small farmers, and increasing land prices.
The current policy framework regulating land markets and land use, despite some progressive rules, is largely inefficient in the face of these difficulties. On a local level, a number of community-based initiatives are developing to free land and make it available to organic or biodynamic farming, reviving and transforming the previous similar wave in the 1960s.
Detailed Informations about the Background and Germany’s
Policy Environment you find in our Resources section
The BioBoden cooperative was established to secure more land for environmentally friendly agriculture which conserves resources. It acquires land as well as enterprises which are for sale and leases them to organic farmers on a long term basis at an affordable price.
The Kulturland cooperative encourages supporters of community supported organic farms to buy shares or give additional loans. With this money we buy farmland and lease it to farmers on a long term basis.
The Netzwerk Flächensicherung is a platform of organisations in Germany working to secure farmland for ecological, small-scale, and community-based agriculture. By promoting non-speculative land ownership and fostering collaboration across sectors, the network advocates for fair and sustainable access to land.
Agronauten are a non-profit association that researches and communicates many aspects related to food and farming culture – especially regional, organic agriculture and food systems that are viable for the future.
