Flurbereinigung
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is the
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
word best translated as ''
land consolidation Land consolidation is a planned readjustment and rearrangement of fragmented land parcels and their ownership. It is usually applied to form larger and more rational land holdings. Land consolidation can be used to improve rural infrastructure and ...
''. Unlike the land reforms carried out in the socialist countries of the Eastern Bloc, including
East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
, the idea of was not so much to distribute large quasi-feudal holdings to the formerly landless rural workers and/or to -style cooperatives, but rather to correct the situation where after centuries of equal division of the inheritance of small farmers among their heirs and unregulated sales, most farmers owned many small non-adjacent plots of land, making access and cultivation difficult and inefficient. Two other European countries where this kind of land reform has been carried out are
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() and the
Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
(). Although these reforms had been anticipated by agricultural planners since the beginning of the 19th century, they were not executed in grand scale until the time about 1950. These reforms sought to improve agricultural efficiency and support the infrastructure. In 1953 a law called the was passed in Germany, with the latest amendment in 1976. After criticism about
loss of biodiversity Biodiversity loss includes the worldwide extinction of different species, as well as the local reduction or loss of species in a certain habitat, resulting in a loss of biological diversity. The latter phenomenon can be temporary or permanent, de ...
caused by large-scale land reforms began to be voiced in the late 1970s, the restoration of the natural environment became another objective.


Reasons for land consolidation

The process of ''Flurbereinigung'' was accelerated greatly after the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, due to the need for inexpensive agricultural products. At the same time the population in
West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
underwent a rapid increase caused by millions of refugees from the
former eastern territories of Germany The former eastern territories of Germany (german: Ehemalige deutsche Ostgebiete) refer in present-day Germany to those territories east of the current eastern border of Germany i.e. Oder–Neisse line which historically had been considered Ger ...
. The idea was first to restructure the landholdings by consolidating geographically unconnected fields under the same ownership, thus reducing labor and cultivation costs. As a second step, agricultural
infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...
s like
dirt road A dirt road or track is a type of unpaved road not paved with asphalt, concrete, brick, or stone; made from the native material of the land surface through which it passes, known to highway engineers as subgrade material. Dirt roads are suitable ...
s and
farming machinery Agricultural machinery relates to the mechanical structures and devices used in farming or other agriculture. There are many types of such equipment, from hand tools and power tools to tractors and the countless kinds of farm implements that the ...
were heavily improved. That process also included regulating
streams A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream ...
and straightening country roads. As a result, the radically reshaped large areas of German
agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...
, including the
German wine German wine is primarily produced in the west of Germany, along the river Rhine and its tributaries, with the oldest plantations going back to the Ancient Rome, Roman era. Approximately 60 percent of German wine is produced in the state of Rhine ...
industry. First taking shape in land consolidation
legislation Legislation is the process or result of enrolled bill, enrolling, enactment of a bill, enacting, or promulgation, promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous Government, governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law i ...
passed in the 1950s as part of an overhaul of the structuring of German agriculture, the would see many landscapes rearranged and physically reshaped, for example with respect to building access roads to make agriculture more effective.


Reason for restructuring vineyards

Many German
wine regions This list of wine-producing regions catalogues significant growing regions where vineyards are planted. Wine grapes mostly grow between the 30th and the 50th degree of latitude, in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres. Grapes will sometimes ...
, like the Mosel, have their vineyards planted on steep
terrace Terrace may refer to: Landforms and construction * Fluvial terrace, a natural, flat surface that borders and lies above the floodplain of a stream or river * Terrace, a street suffix * Terrace, the portion of a lot between the public sidewalk a ...
s along riverbanks to maximize the climate benefits of the nearby river. Often these vineyards were planted before
mechanical harvesting Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations of ...
was widely used and had to be laboriously picked by hand. Another disadvantage was the lack of ideal drainage in some of these vineyards where either too much or too little water was retained for the vine to sustain quality production.


Process and benefits

With help from the
federal Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...
and state governments many German vineyard owners were able to redesign and replant their vineyards to optimize maintenance and harvesting. Several vineyards also took the opportunity to upgrade their plantings from the lower-quality
Müller-Thurgau Müller-Thurgau is a white grape variety (sp. ''Vitis vinifera'') which was created by Hermann Müller from the Swiss Canton of Thurgau in 1882 at the Geisenheim Grape Breeding Institute in Germany. It is a crossing of Riesling with Madeleine R ...
grape to the high-quality
Riesling Riesling (, ; ) is a white grape variety that originated in the Rhine region. Riesling is an aromatic grape variety displaying flowery, almost perfumed, aromas as well as high acidity. It is used to make dry, semi-sweet, sweet, and sparkling wh ...
vine. Some wine areas also improved the roads and access to their vineyards to increase
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potential. In some cases, parcels of land that were spread out over different areas were reallocated among vineyard owners to reduce production cost. In areas where wine is not produced, it is normally the size of the parcels and the quality of the infrastructure which are improved through land consolidation. Later on, environmental protection and community and regional development became important goals. affects owners and leaseholders of the affected land, as well rightsholders of the land lots, municipalities, public agencies and farmer associations. The participants may incorporate to a body of public rights which is controlled by a public authority and called a , best translated as "participant association". According to the these bodies may form a union within a state. All unions have been integrated into the , the federal alliance of participant associations. The outcome of a should lead to the greatest benefit for the participants but also for the general public. Public roads and infrastructure such as channels are built, creeks are straightened, land improvement is carried out, and the landscape is rearranged according to regional development and country planning. Thereafter roads and infrastructure are normally in possession of the municipality. It is desirable that the estates of land are distributed as homogeneously as possible among the participants. As this is not always possible, legal actions against the redistributions are common.


Negative example

A very negative example of occurred in the first half of the 1970s at
Kaiserstuhl (Baden-Württemberg) The Kaiserstuhl (, "Emperor’s Chair") is a range of hills in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany with a maximum height of . It is of volcanic origin and located in the southwest of the state in the counties of Emmendingen a ...
, when great terraces were created with a slope towards the hillside. The idea was to store water in the area, but heavy rains in 1983 led to flooding. Moreover, due to the inclination of the terraces in springtime (blooming time of the wine) cold air settled, leading to frequent frost damage to the crops.


References


See also

*
Enclosure Enclosure or Inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or " common land" enclosing it and by doing so depriving commoners of their rights of access and privilege. Agreements to enclose land ...
{{Authority control History of agriculture German wine
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...