2019/12/19 by Wiebke Nowack, Julia Christiane Schmid, Harald Grethe · 1 voice
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Business, Management and Accounting · #Agricultural Economics and Policy #Cooperative Studies and Economics
paper · doi:10.14512/gaia.28.4.7
Die Zahl landwirtschaftlicher Betriebe in Deutschland und Europa nimmt ab und ihre durchschnittliche Größe zu. Besteht Anlass für eine stärkere Unterstützung kleinerer Betriebe? Agrarpolitische Interessensgruppen deuten den Größenstrukturwandel unterschiedlich und ziehen verschiedene politische Schlussfolgerungen.Structural changes in agriculture are frequently considered problematic. Concerns are expressed about the declining number of farms and the growth of the farms that remain. A structuring content analysis of 50 position papers on the post-2020 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform shows that the development of agricultural-sized structures is interpreted as a problem of both equity and multifunctionality. The respective positionings overlap when it comes to the principle of performance equity and comes together around the goal of maintaining as many (small) farms as possible. It is either assumed that small enterprises would benefit if subsidies were tied to the provision of public goods, or that promoting the existence of small farms would automatically lead to their provision. Existing studies can only partially prove or refute such connections. What remains is the need for public negotiations regarding the societal functions which agriculture should assume, and with what priority.