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Abstract

The course of industrialization also changed the patterns of production in the countryside. While historical differences account for the prevalence of smaller farms in the western regions of Germany, the overall concentration of farmland increased rapidly as the result of urbanization and the reorganization of agriculture for the industrial age.

Organization of German Agriculture (1882 and 1907)

Source

Number of farms, classified according to farm size, across the territory of the German Reich in 1882 and 1907 (in thousands and percent of total farm operations)

1882

1907

Classification of farm size

1,000

%

1,000

%

under

2 hectares (ha)

3,062

58.0

3,379

58.9

2- 5 ha

981

18.6

1,006

17.6

5- 20 ha

927

17.6

1,066

18.5

20- 100 ha

282

5.3

262

4.6

above 100 ha

25

0.5

24

0.4

total

5,277

100.0

5,737

100.0

Source: Hermann Aubin and Wolfgang Zorn, eds., Handbuch der deutschen Wirtschafts- und Sozialgeschichte. Stuttgart, 1971–76, vol. 2, p. 512.

Translation: Erwin Fink