Abstract
In the last 30 years the structural policy led by the idea of the “bäuerlich” family farm has had a remarkable success, with the help of market and price policy, and under the guidance of effective regional policy. In this continuous process, small farms without development potential have been turned into part-time farms, owing to economic growth in rural areas, whereas the economy of farms with development potential was strengthened essentially by the structural policy measures.
Within the framework of this policy, the socio-economic differentiation of all the farms gave a basis for a satisfactory family income, being equivalent to that of industrial workers in rural areas. But further decrease of part-time farms is not supposed to improve the agricultural structure any more. Moreover, the structural policy failed just because of its success; the improved agricultural and farm structure led to overproduction in the EC countries, which can be controlled only by setting a limit to their production capacity.
Thus, German agriculture has to make its land use and cattle breeding extensive . This extensification can be held up under the orientation of “bäuerlich” family farming as an agricultural policy idea only by direct income transfers to the family farms or reorganization into part-time farms. The latter seems to be very difficult, in view of the approximately 2 million unemployed persons and the very high unemployment rate in rural areas. Any other solutions of this agro-political dilemma damage the basic ideas of the social market economy and shake the foundations of a free democracy .
