EFFECTS OF LOCATION ON DAIRY PRODUCTION IN THE OLD AND NEW GERMAN FEDERAL STATES

In the western part of Germany the regional distribution of dairy cows is the result of complex individual farm decisions influenced by different fodder und labour costs. Therefore, dairy production had been strongly concentrated in grass land regions before the milk quota system was introduced. In the planned economy of the former GDR agricultural production sites were determined by administrative criteria. One of the main criteria was self-suffiency in food supply of the individual territories. For this reason dairy production was influenced to a higher degree by the population density than by natural and economic factors. Due to these differences between the two parts of Germany in site selection processes in dairy production dairy cow density was highly correlated in western Germany to the percentage of permanent grass land on total agricultural land, as opposed to eastern Germany. In eastern Germany a south-north-decrease in cow density can be observed in accordance with the population density. However, in the GDR heifers were bred in permanent grass land regions, in fluvial plains, at higher altitudes and near the Baltic Sea. Now, after the 19th revision of the milk quota system and changes of other regulations, regional shifts in milk production in the eastern part of Germany can be expected because holdings with heifers are entitled to milk quotas too. Milk production will decrease in forage crop growing regions with very good top soil in Sachsen-Anhalt, Sachsen and Thuringen, and increase in specialized holdings breeding heifers in diadvantaged grassland regions.