STRUCTURAL CHANGES AND EXPERIENCES WITH LAND REFORM IN GERMAN AGRICULTURE SINCE UNIFICATION

Following unification of East and West Germany in 1990, the principal objective of the government was to restore previous property rights in the new federal states and to encourage competitive production structures. Institutions were quickly established to facilitate the required adjustments to a market economy. Privatisation of most firms (farms), which was an intricate and costly procedure, was accomplished within five years and resulted in a completely new farm structure in the new federal states. By 1996 over 80 percent of agricultural enterprises comprised private (individual) operations (cultivating 22 percent of land), 9,1 percent partnerships (22 percent of land), while about 3000 legal entities managed 56 percent of farm land. About 90 percent of farmland in the new states is being rented compared to 47 percent in the old states. Significantly, leasing and not selling became the most important method to privatise land in the new federal states. In 1996 the number of farming operations in Germany totalled about 540000. While worker employment in German agriculture is steadily decreasing, worker productivity is increasing - from 17 hectares of farm land per full-time equivalent worker (FTE) in 1991 to 43 hectares per FTE in the new states in 1996