Landscaping on a farm in northern Germany, a case study of conceptual and social fundaments for the development of an ecologically sound agro-landscape.

摘要

A sustainable, ecologically sound management of the landscape cannot be established by top-down planning and regulations. It appears to be more a matter of willingness to become aware of and to accept responsibility for those living in that landscape. Organic and in particular biodynamic agriculture take the challenge to develop appropriate forms of social and economic cooperation in addition to the ecologically sound agro-techniques they deem essential. For this development, perceiving the farm asa kind of organism which has to be individually developed, is necessary. The example of a farmers' association in northern Germany is used to clarify the relationships between ecological measures to improve the landscape and the socioeconomic frameworkof agriculture. Such a bottom-up landscape development, which includes individual approaches and a concept perceiving the landscape as a whole, is seen as an interesting addition to top-down landscape planning. Instead of an approach separating intensiveagro-production and nature conservation, which looks absurd from an overall ecological point of view, a nature-compliant agriculture must be developed, which starts by accepting the natural conditions and develops them accordingly, to fit the needs of the relevant society.