MARGINAL LOCATIONS FOR AGRICULTURE IN THE NEW FEDERAL STATES

Due to the natural conditions and future economic framework for agricu lture in the new Lander, it seems questionable whether farming in the traditional manner can be maintained everywhere. The actual locations of marginal land where land hitherto used for farming may fall idle in the future depend upon numerous factors and cannot easily be predicte d. Land rents may give an answer to this question as an indicator whic h takes into account a whole range of influencing factors. However, co nsidering the uncertainties concerning the fixed-cost structure of agr icultural enterprises in Eastern Germany, only gross margins computed for arable farming along with a few other indicators can be used for t he assessment of marginal locations. It is not possible to exactly det ermine the borderline between regions of profitable and of unprofitabl e amble farming. A comparison of various maps, however, gives a rough overview of the quality of agricultural locations in the administrativ e districts of the new Lander.