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Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
The agricultural land market in Germany has been the focus of political debates for years, with calls for stronger regulation growing louder. The latest FORLand Policy Brief ‘Who owns the land?’ by Clemens Jänicke, Alfons Balmann, and Daniel Müller discusses planned land regulations based on a recent study (Jänicke und Müller, 2024), which provides comprehensive insights into ownership structures for a German federal state.
The study is based on data from the official cadastral registry (Amtliches Liegenschaftskataster, ALKIS). It shows that 52% of agricultural land in Brandenburg is owned by private individuals who own, on average, only four hectares. About 35% is distributed among agricultural landowners and 12% among public institutions, churches, and other institutions and associations. Some agricultural company networks and public institutions have extensive individual land ownership. Despite the large areas sometimes owned by company networks, the highest measured local concentration of a company network is below 40%, a threshold often used in other markets as indicating market dominance.
The authors conclude that the available data do not provide evidence of a dominant market position of agricultural corporations or other owners but rather a broad distribution of agricultural land ownership.
The study emphasizes the need for a differentiated consideration of ownership and land use structures and argues for more transparency in the land market to inform political decisions better. The German Research Foundation (DFG) funded the research as part of the FORLand research group ‘Agricultural Land Markets – Efficiency and Regulation’.
The FORLand Policy Brief 07 entitled ‘Who owns the land?’ can be downloaded free of charge: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/344853?v=pdf (in German only)
References
Jänicke, C., & Müller, D. (2024). Revealing agricultural land ownership concentration with cadastral and company network data.Agriculture and Human Values, 1-17.
About IAMO
The Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO) analyses economic, social and political processes of change in the agricultural and food sector, and in rural areas. The geographic focus covers the enlarging EU, transition regions of Central, Eastern and South Eastern Europe, as well as Central and Eastern Asia. IAMO works to enhance the understanding of institutional, structural and technological changes. Moreover, IAMO studies the resulting impacts on the agricultural and food sector as well as the living conditions of rural populations. The outcomes of our work are used to derive and analyse strategies and options for enterprises, agricultural markets and politics. Since its founding in 1994, IAMO has been part of the Leibniz Association, a German community of independent research institutes.
Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO)
Theodor-Lieser-Str. 2
06120 Halle (Saale), Germany
www.iamo.de/en
Clemens Jänicke, Research Associate
Tel.: +49 30 2093-4889
E-mail: jaenicke(at)iamo.de
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/344853?v=pdf
Agricultural land in Germany
Clemens Jänicke
© IAMO
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Agricultural land in Germany
Clemens Jänicke
© IAMO
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