IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/lauspo/v145y2024ics0264837724002345.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Dynamic archetypes of agricultural land systems in Germany from 1992 to 2019

Author

Listed:
  • Orozco, Richard
  • Meyer-Jürshof, Marie
  • Vergara-Rodríguez, Karla
  • Václavík, Tomáš
  • Sietz, Diana

Abstract

Grasslands, important agricultural land systems, are undergoing significant shifts such as intensification, abandonment, and conversion to alternative land uses in Europe, leading to biodiversity loss. Despite major efforts, the European Union´s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has been unable to halt the decline of grasslands and to appropriately adjust management intensity because implemented policies have not considered the heterogeneity of grassland systems. However, accounting for this heterogeneity is essential to increase the policies´ effectiveness. In this study, we used archetype analysis to identify recurrent patterns in the heterogeneity of farm configurations, using Germany as an example, that can help tailor policy instruments to specific regional conditions. By applying self-organising maps, we reveal nine archetypes integrating 16 farm accountancy indicators. Advancing archetype analysis, we discuss their dynamics (including their emergence, disappearance and persistence) between 1992 and 2019 at the level of federal states and interpret these dynamics in the light of CAP. For example, archetypes in the western federal states are dominated by small crop and dairy farms, while archetypes in the eastern federal states are more diverse, including larger subsidised farms and medium crop farms. Moreover, archetype dynamics in the southern federal states indicate a decline in small dairy farms and an increase in small crop farms, implying the loss of valuable habitats for wild species. Policy instruments tailored to such regional conditions could more appropriately halt this loss. These insights derived from agricultural land systems in Germany can enrich the debate about how to better tailor policy instruments to regional conditions to preserve functional grassland systems in Europe and worldwide.

Suggested Citation

  • Orozco, Richard & Meyer-Jürshof, Marie & Vergara-Rodríguez, Karla & Václavík, Tomáš & Sietz, Diana, 2024. "Dynamic archetypes of agricultural land systems in Germany from 1992 to 2019," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:145:y:2024:i:c:s0264837724002345
    DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2024.107281
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264837724002345
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.landusepol.2024.107281?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Neyret, M. & Fischer, M. & Allan, E. & Hölzel, N. & Klaus, V.H. & Kleinebecker, T. & Krauss, J. & Le Provost, G. & Peter, S. & Schenk, N. & Simons, N.K. & van der Plas, F. & Binkenstein, J. & Börschig, 2021. "Assessing the impact of grassland management on landscape multifunctionality," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    2. Richard Orozco & María Rosa Mosquera-Losada & Javier Rodriguez & Muluken Elias Adamseged & Philipp Grundmann, 2021. "Supportive Business Environments to Develop Grass Bioeconomy in Europe," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-16, November.
    3. Tittonell, P. & Bruzzone, O. & Solano-Hernández, A. & López-Ridaura, S. & Easdale, M.H., 2020. "Functional farm household typologies through archetypal responses to disturbances," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    4. Jinfeng Chang & Philippe Ciais & Thomas Gasser & Pete Smith & Mario Herrero & Petr Havlík & Michael Obersteiner & Bertrand Guenet & Daniel S. Goll & Wei Li & Victoria Naipal & Shushi Peng & Chunjing Q, 2021. "Climate warming from managed grasslands cancels the cooling effect of carbon sinks in sparsely grazed and natural grasslands," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-10, December.
    5. Simone Pieralli & Silke Hüttel & Martin Odening, 2017. "Abandonment of milk production under uncertainty and inefficiency: the case of western German Farms," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 44(3), pages 425-454.
    6. Jongeneel, Roel & Gonzalez-Martinez, Ana Rosa, 2022. "The role of market drivers in explaining the EU milk supply after the milk quota abolition," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 194-209.
    7. Andrea Zimmermann & Thomas Heckelei, 2012. "Structural Change of European Dairy Farms – A Cross-Regional Analysis," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(3), pages 576-603, September.
    8. Smit, H.J. & Metzger, M.J. & Ewert, F., 2008. "Spatial distribution of grassland productivity and land use in Europe," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 98(3), pages 208-219, October.
    9. Johannes Sauer & Uwe Latacz-Lohmann, 2015. "Investment, technical change and efficiency: empirical evidence from German dairy production," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 42(1), pages 151-175.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fabian Frick & Johannes Sauer, 2021. "Technological Change in Dairy Farming with Increased Price Volatility," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 72(2), pages 564-588, June.
    2. Georgia Koutouzidou & Athanasios Ragkos & Katerina Melfou, 2022. "Evolution of the Structure and Economic Management of the Dairy Cow Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-12, September.
    3. Iordanis Parikoglou & Grigorios Emvalomatis & Fiona Thorne, 2022. "Precision livestock agriculture and productive efficiency: The case of milk recording in Ireland," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 53(S1), pages 109-120, November.
    4. Hugo Storm & Thomas Heckelei & Ron C. Mittelhammer, 2016. "Bayesian estimation of non-stationary Markov models combining micro and macro data," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 43(2), pages 303-329.
    5. Fabio A. Madau & Roberto Furesi & Pietro Pulina, 2017. "Technical efficiency and total factor productivity changes in European dairy farm sectors," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-14, December.
    6. Skevas, Ioannis, 2020. "Inference in the spatial autoregressive efficiency model with an application to Dutch dairy farms," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 283(1), pages 356-364.
    7. Wettemann, Patrick Johannes Christopher & Latacz-Lohmann, Uwe, 2017. "An efficiency-based concept to assess potential cost and greenhouse gas savings on German dairy farms," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 27-37.
    8. West, Steele, 2021. "The Estimation of Farm Business Inefficiency in the Presence of Debt Repayment," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315048, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    9. Myrgiotis, Vasileios & Blei, Emanuel & Clement, Rob & Jones, Stephanie K. & Keane, Ben & Lee, Mark A. & Levy, Peter E. & Rees, Robert M. & Skiba, Ute M. & Smallman, Thomas Luke & Toet, Sylvia & Willia, 2020. "A model-data fusion approach to analyse carbon dynamics in managed grasslands," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    10. Saint-Cyr, Legrand D. F., 2016. "Accounting for farm heterogeneity in the assessment of agricultural policy impacts on structural change," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235778, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    11. Alexander Zorn & Franziska Zimmert, 2022. "Structural change in the dairy sector: exit from farming and farm type change," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 10(1), pages 1-31, December.
    12. Bert, Federico E. & Rovere, Santiago L. & Macal, Charles M. & North, Michael J. & Podestá, Guillermo P., 2014. "Lessons from a comprehensive validation of an agent based-model: The experience of the Pampas Model of Argentinean agricultural systems," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 273(C), pages 284-298.
    13. Chao Yue & Mengyang Xu & Philippe Ciais & Shu Tao & Huizhong Shen & Jinfeng Chang & Wei Li & Lei Deng & Junhao He & Yi Leng & Yu Li & Jiaming Wang & Can Xu & Han Zhang & Pengyi Zhang & Liankai Zhang &, 2024. "Contributions of ecological restoration policies to China’s land carbon balance," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-15, December.
    14. Storm, Hugo & Heckelei, Thomas, 2015. "Local and regional spatial interactions in the analysis of Norwegian farm growth," 150th Seminar, October 22-23, 2015, Edinburgh, Scotland 212648, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    15. Huber, Robert, 2016. "Towards a cost-benefit assessment of farm structural change in European mountain regions," 149th Seminar, October 27-28, 2016, Rennes, France 244785, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    16. Huber, Robert & Bartkowski, Bartosz & Brown, Calum & El Benni, Nadja & Feil, Jan-Henning & Grohmann, Pascal & Joormann, Ineke & Leonhardt, Heidi & Mitter, Hermine & Müller, Birgit, 2024. "Farm typologies for understanding farm systems and improving agricultural policy," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 213(C).
    17. Sebastian Neuenfeldt & Alexander Gocht & Thomas Heckelei & Klaus Mittenzwei & Pavel Ciaian, 2021. "Using Aggregated Farm Location Information to Predict Regional Structural Change of Farm Specialisation, Size and Exit/Entry in Norway Agriculture," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-22, July.
    18. Ning Geng & Zengjin Liu & Xuejiao Wang & Lin Meng & Jiayan Pan, 2022. "Measurement of Green Total Factor Productivity and Its Spatial Convergence Test on the Pig-Breeding Industry in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-19, October.
    19. Hermans, C.M.L. & Geijzendorffer, I.R. & Ewert, F. & Metzger, M.J. & Vereijken, P.H. & Woltjer, G.B. & Verhagen, A., 2010. "Exploring the future of European crop production in a liberalised market, with specific consideration of climate change and the regional competitiveness," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 221(18), pages 2177-2187.
    20. Zorn, Alexander & Zimmert, Franziska, 2020. "Structural adjustment of Swiss dairy farms - farm exit and farm type change," 60th Annual Conference, Halle/ Saale, Germany, September 23-25, 2020 305605, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:145:y:2024:i:c:s0264837724002345. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joice Jiang (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/land-use-policy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.