Flurbereinigung

Flurbereinigung is the German word used to describe land reforms in various countries, especially Germany and Austria. The term can best be translated as "land consolidation". Another european country, where those land reforms have been carried out is France ("Remembrement"). Although these reformes have been anticipated by agricultural planners since the beginning of the 19th century, they weren't executed in grand scale until before about 1950. These reforms sought to improve agricultural efficiency, support the infrastructure. After criticizm about loss of biodiversity caused by large scale land reforms, restoring the natural environment became another objective.

Reasons for land consolidation

The process of "Flurbereinigung" was spurred heavily after the Second World War. In that time there was a great need for inexpensive agricultural products. At the same time the population in West Germany underwent a rapid increase caused by millions of refugees from the former german territories. The idea was first to restructure the land properties by accumulating different fields under the same property, which were formerly geographically seperated, thus reducing labor and costs to cultivate those fields. As a second step, agricultural infrastructures like dirt roads and farming machinery were heavily improved. That process also included regulating creeks and straightening country roads. As a result, the "Flurbereinigung" radically reshaped large areas of german agriculture, including the German wine industry. First taking shape in land consolidation legislation passed in the the 1950s as part of an overhaul of the structuring of German agriculture, the "Flurbereinigung" would see many landscapes rearranged and physically reshaped, for example with respect to building access roads, in order to make agriculture more effective. J. Robinson (ed) "The Oxford Companion to Wine" Third Edition pg 276 Oxford University Press 2006 ISBN 0198609906 ]

Reason for restructuring vineyards

Many German wine regions, like the Mosel, have their vineyards planted on steep terraces along a river bank in order to maximize the climate benefits of the nearby river. Often these vineyards were planted before mechanical harvesting was widely used and had to be picked by hand to great labor expense. Another disadvantage was the lack of ideal drainage in some of these vineyards where either too much or too little water was retained in order for the vine to sustain quality production.

Process and benefits

With Federal and local help from the German government many vineyard owners were able to redesign and replant their vineyards in order to optimize maintenance and harvesting. Several vineyards also took the opportunity to upgrade their plantings from the lower-quality Müller-Thurgau grape to the high quality Riesling vine. Some wine areas also improved the roads and access to their vineyard to increase tourism potential. In some cases, parcels of land that were spread out over different areas were reallocated among vineyard owners in order to reduce production cost.

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