Changes of Social and Agricultural Structures and Farmland Consolidation of Neunkirchen-Seelscheid in the Eastern Suburb of Bonn

Abstract

This report deals with the changes of the rural area in the suburb of a German metropolitan region, in reference to the case of the Wolperath farmland consolitation area in the Köln-Bonn metropolitan region. The changes of the rural area are analyzed through social structure, agricultural structure and landscape formed by farmland consolidation.Farmland consolidation (Flurbereinigung) means the land consolidation of scattered small farm lots into larger farm lots, sometimes by means of Aussiedlung (resettlement of a farmstead out of a dense nucleated village to the heart of a farming area) (Fig. 3). Wolperath lies in the southern part of the rural district Neunkirchen-Seelscheid, Rhein-Sieg Kreis, Regierungsbezirk Köln, Land Nordrhein-Westfalen. Wolperath is located 20 km NE of Bonn, and 28 km ESE of Köln and on the upland of the Bergische Hochfläche with an average altitude of 180 m. Fifty-eight percent (58 %) of the district consists of agricultural land and 25% of forest.The number of people resided in the district has been increasing since 1956, especially from 1968-1973 (Table 1). In contrast to population, the number of farms has been declining. The increase-rate of population in the district has shown the highest in comparison with the Kreis, Regierungsbezirk and Land (Fig. 1). The population pyramid reveals a ballanced pillar with two lobes reflecting younger age groups. The increase of population depends on social increases rather than on natural increases and the latter, in fact, shows minus. Most in-migrants came from the adjacent areas of Köln and Siegburg (Table 3), and out-migrants moved to the adjacent areas of Siegburg, Köln and Düsseldorf. A relatively large in-and out-migrantion flows may be observed in relation to foreign countries.Due to the urbanization in the suburb of the Köln-Bonn metropolitan region, the number of farms has decreased by 54% from 1949 to 1974. Fifty-six percent (56%) of the farms are dairy farms. Forty-six percent (46 %) of the farms are tenants of farm land which the owners have ceased to manage as agricultural enterprises (Table 4).The farmland consolidation office assigned Wolperath as a farmland consolidation area in 1964, based on the low of Flurbereinigung in 1953. This law was revised in 1976. Measures to improve the agricultural structure have been financed by both the Federal and Provincial governments since January 1, 1973, within the framework of a common project : “Improvement of the agricultural structure and coastal protection” (Table 5). Land consolidation was originally a means of improving the agricultural structure chiefly through the amalgamation of fragmented small holdings (Fig. 3), the construction of farm roads, and an expansion of the waterways, and has become of primary importance in the context of the recognization of rural areas. This includes measures to develop and modernize the village, to develop industrial and residential settlements and the planning of supra-local and supra-regional communication services. Moreover, land consolidation contributes to the maintenance and improvement of the recreational value of the rural areas. Even the rural area around big German cities, such as Wolperath, has been developed and controlled by the government authorities. In short, laissez-faire urban expansion into the rural area is rare in West Germany.