Summary: European biodiversity significantly depends on large scale livestock systems with low in... more Summary: European biodiversity significantly depends on large scale livestock systems with low input levels. In most countries such forms of grazing are organised in permanent or seasonal cooperations (land-owner/land-user agents) and covers different landscape such as forests, pastures, mires and even arable land. The reason for the emergence of cooperative structures was to limit the access of individuals to the resource in order to prevent over-exploitation. Its aim was also to provide large-scale areas facilitating the grazing of big flocks with low costs. Today, the existence of these structures is threatened due to changes in agricultural land-use practices and inappropriate governmental policies. At first some basic characteristics and the trends of development of the systems are presented. The present paper investigates five livestock systems with varying degrees of cooperation in different European countries and landscapes. These systems are reindeer husbandry in Northern Fennoscandia, sedentary sheep grazing in Central Spain, cattle grazing in the German and Swiss Alps and sheep grazing in the Polish Tatra Mountains. These systems show very heterogeneous organisational patterns in their way of exploiting the pastoral resources and different degree of resource exploitation. A comparative analysis of the organisation and structural form of the grazing systems presents the role different groups of actors play in these systems and their inter-relationships. Further, the economic implications of the legal definitions of the forage resources and the institutions dealing with the resource exploitation are presented. This leads to an analysis of the way the resource is managed and exploited.
The modelling and information system RAUMIS is used for policy impact assessment to measure the i... more The modelling and information system RAUMIS is used for policy impact assessment to measure the impact of agriculture on the environment. The county level resolution often limits the analysis and a further disaggregation at the municipality level would reduce aggregation bias and improve the assessment. Although the necessary data exists in Germany, data protection rules (DPR) prohibit their direct use.
ABSTRACT In Germany, agricultural land use is very heterogeneous with respect to management orien... more ABSTRACT In Germany, agricultural land use is very heterogeneous with respect to management orientation and productivity even at the local level. In addition, there is a wide variation in the reasons for farm exits. A review of the literature shows that a limited number of explanatory variables are generally accepted as being driving forces for farm exit rates. For themajority of indicators, ambiguous results are reported. In this paper, we analyse the determining factors of farm exit rates in Germany by examining municipalities from 1999 to 2007.We evaluate the robustness of the relationship between a set of explanatory variables and farm exit rates at different spatial scales.Our results indicate that the direction of impact of some variables (farm size, population density and the share of ruminants kept at low intensity as a fraction of the total ruminant stock) on farmexit rates is unambiguous throughout Germany. For themajority of the analysed explanatory variables, the strength of their impact on farm exit rates depends on their observation level or regional context.
This paper presents a regional land-use model that conceives farms as independent agents aiming a... more This paper presents a regional land-use model that conceives farms as independent agents aiming at maximum individual utility. Farm agents optimize their utility with the help of a linear-programming algorithm that takes into account natural, economic and personal restrictions. Interactions between farms take place on the land market, which is modelled as an equilibrium market. The model is applied in
Summary: European biodiversity significantly depends on large scale livestock systems with low in... more Summary: European biodiversity significantly depends on large scale livestock systems with low input levels. In most countries such forms of grazing are organised in permanent or seasonal cooperations (land-owner/land-user agents) and covers different landscape such as forests, pastures, mires and even arable land. The reason for the emergence of cooperative structures was to limit the access of individuals to the resource in order to prevent over-exploitation. Its aim was also to provide large-scale areas facilitating the grazing of big flocks with low costs. Today, the existence of these structures is threatened due to changes in agricultural land-use practices and inappropriate governmental policies. At first some basic characteristics and the trends of development of the systems are presented. The present paper investigates five livestock systems with varying degrees of cooperation in different European countries and landscapes. These systems are reindeer husbandry in Northern F...
Summary: European biodiversity significantly depends on large scale livestock systems with low in... more Summary: European biodiversity significantly depends on large scale livestock systems with low input levels. In most countries such forms of grazing are organised in permanent or seasonal cooperations (land-owner/land-user agents) and covers different landscape such as forests, pastures, mires and even arable land. The reason for the emergence of cooperative structures was to limit the access of individuals to the resource in order to prevent over-exploitation. Its aim was also to provide large-scale areas facilitating the grazing of big flocks with low costs. Today, the existence of these structures is threatened due to changes in agricultural land-use practices and inappropriate governmental policies. At first some basic characteristics and the trends of development of the systems are presented. The present paper investigates five livestock systems with varying degrees of cooperation in different European countries and landscapes. These systems are reindeer husbandry in Northern Fennoscandia, sedentary sheep grazing in Central Spain, cattle grazing in the German and Swiss Alps and sheep grazing in the Polish Tatra Mountains. These systems show very heterogeneous organisational patterns in their way of exploiting the pastoral resources and different degree of resource exploitation. A comparative analysis of the organisation and structural form of the grazing systems presents the role different groups of actors play in these systems and their inter-relationships. Further, the economic implications of the legal definitions of the forage resources and the institutions dealing with the resource exploitation are presented. This leads to an analysis of the way the resource is managed and exploited.
The modelling and information system RAUMIS is used for policy impact assessment to measure the i... more The modelling and information system RAUMIS is used for policy impact assessment to measure the impact of agriculture on the environment. The county level resolution often limits the analysis and a further disaggregation at the municipality level would reduce aggregation bias and improve the assessment. Although the necessary data exists in Germany, data protection rules (DPR) prohibit their direct use.
ABSTRACT In Germany, agricultural land use is very heterogeneous with respect to management orien... more ABSTRACT In Germany, agricultural land use is very heterogeneous with respect to management orientation and productivity even at the local level. In addition, there is a wide variation in the reasons for farm exits. A review of the literature shows that a limited number of explanatory variables are generally accepted as being driving forces for farm exit rates. For themajority of indicators, ambiguous results are reported. In this paper, we analyse the determining factors of farm exit rates in Germany by examining municipalities from 1999 to 2007.We evaluate the robustness of the relationship between a set of explanatory variables and farm exit rates at different spatial scales.Our results indicate that the direction of impact of some variables (farm size, population density and the share of ruminants kept at low intensity as a fraction of the total ruminant stock) on farmexit rates is unambiguous throughout Germany. For themajority of the analysed explanatory variables, the strength of their impact on farm exit rates depends on their observation level or regional context.
This paper presents a regional land-use model that conceives farms as independent agents aiming a... more This paper presents a regional land-use model that conceives farms as independent agents aiming at maximum individual utility. Farm agents optimize their utility with the help of a linear-programming algorithm that takes into account natural, economic and personal restrictions. Interactions between farms take place on the land market, which is modelled as an equilibrium market. The model is applied in
Summary: European biodiversity significantly depends on large scale livestock systems with low in... more Summary: European biodiversity significantly depends on large scale livestock systems with low input levels. In most countries such forms of grazing are organised in permanent or seasonal cooperations (land-owner/land-user agents) and covers different landscape such as forests, pastures, mires and even arable land. The reason for the emergence of cooperative structures was to limit the access of individuals to the resource in order to prevent over-exploitation. Its aim was also to provide large-scale areas facilitating the grazing of big flocks with low costs. Today, the existence of these structures is threatened due to changes in agricultural land-use practices and inappropriate governmental policies. At first some basic characteristics and the trends of development of the systems are presented. The present paper investigates five livestock systems with varying degrees of cooperation in different European countries and landscapes. These systems are reindeer husbandry in Northern F...
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Papers by Norbert Roeder