MICROARTICLE #Food
The Decoupling of the Socialist Village
By: Studio Amore
MICROARTICLE Food
Wissensstadt Berlin 2021
Published on June 26, 2021
Agriculture, which primarily produced the old settlement structures in rural Brandenburg, employs fewer and fewer people today. Through the industrialisation of agricultural production in Germany, four workers can now cultivate up to 1,000 hectares and, by 2030, agriculture is expected to lose another 40 percent of its jobs. [1] The supra-regional, subsidised industrial agro-industry has led to de-embedded villages [2] that are decoupled from surrounding agriculture and do not benefit from either jobs or profits.
At the end of the GDR, 95% of common rural land was managed by agricultural production cooperatives (LPGs); a result of forced collectivisation, concentration and specialisation of socialist agriculture in the hope of increasing productivity. After reunification, the large-scale farm structures of the GDR paved the way for a spiral of rising land prices and mergers into ever larger corporate units which continues today. Meanwhile, traditional farmers can hardly keep up with land price increases and new entry into agriculture is almost impossible.
[1] Bude, H., Willisch, A. (Hrsg.) (2008) Exklusion. Die Debatte über die "Überflüssigen". Suhrkamp Verlag.
[2] BBSR (Hrsg.). (2013) Deutschland in Europa – Ergebnisse des Programms ESPON . Accessed 25.06.21https://www.bbsr.bund.de/BBSR/DE/veroeffentlichungen/sonderveroeffentlichungen/2015/DL_ESPON-Heft-6.pdf
© Studio Amore
BB2040
[EN] Berlin Brandenburg 2040 was initiated by the Habitat Unit in cooperation with Projekte International and provides an open stage and platform for multiple contributions of departments and students of the Technical University Berlin and beyond. The project is funded by the Robert Bosch Foundation.
[DE] Berlin Brandenburg 2040 wurde initiiert von der Habitat Unit in Kooperation mit Projekte International und bietet eine offene Plattform für Beiträge von Fachgebieten und Studierenden der Technischen Universität Berlin und darüberhinaus. Das Projekt wird von der Robert Bosch Stiftung gefördert.
