Agriculture

Landwirtschaft

Agriculture, forestry, and fishing make up a remarkably small portion of the German economy:  only about 2% of the total GDP.  The agricultural sector is, however, fundamentally important to several regions of Germany, notably the former East Germany, Niedersachsen, and Bayern.  

About one third of Germany remains forested, and these naturally wooded areas supply Germany with two-thirds of its domestic demand for timber.  The large amount of logging that occurs (especially in the Black Forest) causes a large deal of environmental concern over the threat deforestation.  For this reason, the forestry industry is regulated by the Forest Preservation and Forestry Act of 1975.  The goal of this act is to prevent Waldsterben, or forest depletion, through the promotion of re-forestation (i.e. the re-planting of trees).  

Agriculture in Germany is heavily regulated in comparison to agriculture in the United States.  Since the 1960s, all agricultural policy originates in Brussels and is produced by the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union.  The one sector to be noticeably under-regulated by the CAP is the fishing industry.  Although much of the North Atlantic, North Sea, and the Baltic Sea suffer from over fishing, the industry is not easily regulated due to the international status of the waters.  As a result, the German fishing industry has steadily decreased in size during the recent decades.