Planning and building law as a legal framework for multifunctional agriculture

Dr. Oliver Hendrischke, Bonn

An appropriate reading of the term "agriculture" in the German Federal Building Act (Section 201 Baugesetzbuch) as well as of Section 35 Baugesetzbuch makes it possible to take the requirements of development in multifunctional agriculture into account. Within certain limits such an understanding also permits to build up a "second footing" in the undeveloped outskirt area by combining the agricultural business with income sources relatet to the business. A fair compromise can also be reached with regard to the to the conflicting interests of protecting the landscape against excessive settlement and buildings foreign to the nature of outskirts. Furthermore the municipal land-use planning can react adequately to the multifunctionality as a dimension of future land-use. The numerous functions of agriculture can be expressed clearly, while nevertheless safeguarding property rights, by designating areas for agricultural purposes (Section 5 paragraph 2 number 9 lit. a, Section 9 paragraph 1 number 18 lit. a Baugesetzbuch) and superimposing them with other categories. Finally, Section 1 paragraph 5 sentence 2 and 3 Baugesetzbuch requires agricultural functions to be considered when weighing the conflicting interests at hand. Therefore the federal building and planning law alows an appropriate reaction upon the increasing multifunctionality of agriculture.

Land use modelling: Aggregate farm versus raster landscape approach

Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Friedrich Kuhlmann, Dr. Detlev Möller and Bernd Weinmann, Gießen

Recently, land use models are developed to predict the effects of resource- and environmental political measures on land use patterns and land use intensity of economic areas.

Most of these models as well as agricultural sector models base on process analytical approaches, whereby the SIMPLEX - Algorithm (for linear restrictions and linear objective function) or gradient approaches (for linear restrictions and non-linear objective function) are employed to maximise one extreme goal (income from land use).

The paper presented here, compares the process analytical models LMK, MODAM and RAUMUS (11; 22; 30) to the model ProLand (23; 24), which is developed within the Collaborative Research Centre (SFB) "Land use concepts for peripheral regions". It differs in many ways from the process analytical model types:

The elements of the considered economic area are not defined as aggregate farms, but pictured as 25m*25m raster to minimise mistakes of aggregation and separation.

The (natural) performance of various land use activities are considered as endogenous variables. The actual value depends on assigned soil and climate conditions.

Restrictions in ProLand regarding the overall land use share and the crop rotations resp. are not defined as restrictions in absolute and relative notation or by the use of non-linear objective functions (positive quadratic programming). Instead, land use restrictions are realised using a Greedy-Algorithm, which allows a simultaneous definition of crop rotation and land use share.

In ProLand, the so called quasi independent location factors (given stocks of potential factors: man power, production facilities, production rights etc.) are not viewed as exogenous variables, which affect land use pattern and land use intensity if the given amount is limited. In fact, the services provided by a particular production factor are considered as variably applicable (like repetitive production factors usually are).

Thus, the agricultural and forest land of a given economic area remains the solely restricted resource. Therefore, the determination of the spatial balance of land use can be done using simple optimisation algorithms.

So far, the use of the model ProLand within the inter-disciplinary collaborative research centre in Giessen has shown that the generation of geo-referenced prognoses of land use patterns and land use intensities as a basic input to the investigation and evaluation if land use functions have been achieved. Further research is needed especially in the field of a more realistic picturing of the effects of resource- and environmental political measures on the land users decision behaviour within a certain economic area.

Quantification of landscape multifunctionality in agriculture and forestry

Dr. Detlev Möller, Nicola Fohrer and Nathalie Steiner, Gießen

The concept of multi-functionality in agriculture is discussed in various ways. In view of increasing social demands with regard to methods of land use, this discussion will have a strong impact on politics and farm management. Nevertheless, an operational method to quantify multi-functionality on a landscape scale is still missing.

The term "multi-functionality" implicates the involvement of different disciplines. The paper presented here shows an approach to look at and to analyse landscapes in view of economic, ecological and hydrological aspects within the collaborative research centre (SFB) 299 of the German Research Foundation.

In order to achieve this goal, the model ProLand is employed to generate spatial explicit land use prognoses and to investigate changes in the natural, technical, economic and political framework and their consequences on spatial distribution and economic characteristics of production in agriculture and forestry.

The land use maps generated by ProLand are inputs to the hydrological model SWAT and the ecological model ANIMO. These models again calculate the spatial distribution and regional key indicators (SWAT: stream flow, evapo-transpiration, direct flow and groundwater recharge; ANIMO: alpha, beta and gamma diversity).

Using the example of a watershed in Hesse, Germany (approximately 60 km2), results of the three models show that both win-win and trade-off situations between economic value added, direct flow and gamma - diversity can be identified and quantified.

Perspectives of grassland utilisation in peripheral regions

Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Wilhelm Opitz von Boberfeld, Katrin Wöhler, Prof. Dr. Georg Erhardt, Dr. Dr. Matthias Gauly, Carina Urban, Prof. Dr. Hermann Seufert and Dr. Andrea Wagner, Gießen

Decreasing numbers of dairy cows and increasing individual milk performance as a consequence of enhanced quality of basic forage and the increasing importance of concentrates caused a redundancy of grassland. It is deducible from the recent development of livestock, that in particular in peripheral regions, keeping of suckler cows and beef cattle may be interesting, irrespective of the farm size. Dominant factors for the economic success of suckler cow and beef cattle keeping are the marketing performance and costs for stables, forage, and work. This paper focuses on the analysis of the cost items. The results can be summarized as follows:

Outdoor stock keeping during winter in form of winter grazing, straw folds or folds on arable land are options to save costs for stables. This system is possible to practise ecologically friendly and according to demands of animal comfort. The extension of the grazing period by a careful defoliation during the vegetation period helps to save costs for conserves, provided that the soil type of the pastures is usable and the available soils have a sufficient bearing capacity. Concerning the plant communities Lolio- and Festuco-Cynosuretum, the forage value was acceptable, depending on year. Following forage traits were analysed: energy concentration, crude protein concentration, ergosterol concentrations, and concentrations of common mycotoxines, like zearalenon and ochratoxin A. Instead of hay or straw, silage can be a excellent alternative. But measured nitrate concentrations in herbage were insufficient, irrespective of the site, which makes it necessary to use appropriate silage additives.

Alternative breeding traits like behavioural traits related to temperament and traits of disease resistance are more and more of importance in beef cattle breeding. Because ease of handling is influenced by the intensity of human-animal contacts, difficulties in handling can occur under extensive management systems. Then the safety of the stockperson and the welfare of the animal are at risk, handling is more labour intensive and time consuming and therefore causes increased production costs. Genetic differences in temperament in German Angus and Simmental cattle are shown. Temperament was defined as the behavioural response of the animal to handling under different situations. German Angus and male calves in both breeds were less difficult to handle regarding the different parameters. The results were proofed at different ages. Simmental cattle have been raised under more intensive production systems than German Angus cattle in the past. Therefore they are more used to human contact. Bad temperament is more common in cattle reared in intensive systems, because under these conditions, genetically based poor temperament is masked by the intensive handling. The estimated heritabilities of the behavioural traits open a way of selection for temperament in German Angus and Simmental cattle.

The process costs on the farm are very high, if they are compared with the costs of farms in the east of germany or with intensive grassland management for example in "Schleswig Holstein". They are even higher if the yield in energy value is comprised to the evaluation. So the results are causal in context with high machine-costs and unfavourable field-structure on the one side and low yield because of an extensive cultivation on the other side.To reduce this high costs a cost oriented use of technique and the use of modern agricultural systems, - for example the use of Conditioners or automotive mowers - could be a possibility. Also a structural change effects an economy of process costs. If an enlargement of fieldsize or a reduction of the farm-field distance is to prefer, it shouldn´t be evaluated separately from the aspects of transport-linked and non-transport-linked field operations as well as the investment and the degree of utilisation.

The task of farmers in village communication networks

Carmen Retter, Dr. Kai Stahr and Prof. Dr. Hermann Boland, Gießen

This paper focuses on the social influence on land use. This influence - which is mainly directly communicated - is studied by the social network analysis clarifying connections between the structure of village communication and the infrastructure of the village. Clubs, school and newcomers have been identified to be the most important factors of infrastructure. With regard to the subject agriculture one can differentiate between "friend" and "expert". In contrast to common village events which are everyday subjects and talked about with friends and household members, agriculture has become an expert subject.

The farmers with their individual and incorporated values contribute to a village pattern of values and norms (Common Sense). This Common Sense determines the direction of the communication network and consequently influences individual decision making.

Results from a narrative interview study reveal that the farmers` Common Sense follows a conserved and partly even traditional image of a tidy agriculture, the current mainstream of further reduction or retirement as well as socially influenced attitudes of specific land use. Village peculiarities and problems are part of this Common Sense, too. Altogether these factors can be described as a kind of "action track", followed by the farmers` individual actions. The tolerance of the participating farmers determines the width of this track, since conform action is approved and deviation is punished by gradual exclusion from the communication among the farmers.

Modelling species richness depending on landscape pattern

Nathalie Steiner, Dr. Jens Dauber, Michaela Hirsch, Claudia Knecht, Prof. Dr Annette Otte, Tobias Purtauf, Dietmar Simmering, Dr. Rainer Waldhardt, Prof. Dr. Volkmar Wolters and Prof. Wolfgang Köhler, Gießen

The objective of our investigations was to quantify the impact of landscape patterns and species community structure (ratio of generalists to specialists) on species richness. Therefore, we built a model which calculated the effects of several hypothetical landscapes on the diversity at different scales (a -, b -, g -diversity). The results showed that there was always a significant effect of landscape patterns on species richness. However, depending on the species community structure, we observed different strong relationships between spatial patterns and species diversity.

Additionally, floristic and faunistic data of empirical studies were analysed regarding species number in each land use, the habitat specificity of each species, and the proportions of generalists and specialists in each land use. Simulations with these data showed that the impact of landscape aggregation and composition vary depending on the community structure and the species number in each habitat type.

These interdisciplinary investigations of the relationship between landscape patterns and species richness emphasise the necessity of combining experts' opinion to reproduce the complex interactions in nature.

Released 14. Dec 2005 as article