agriculture

• Aims for agriculture: remove large estates from Bourgeoise, build economy, need more resources, increase efficiency
• all owners of estates larger than 100 hectares disposed without any connection; represented 1/3 of land in Soviet zone
• by 1949: no modern machines, fertilisers of seeds, new refugees had little farm experience
• 1948 crop and livestock had fallen
• farmers were moving west
• LPG's alienated larger farms
• by 1958 2/3 of GDR agriculture had not been collectivised
• 1960 second wave of collectivisation: denied farmers access to machinery, targets set too high for farmers, SED sent to villages to convince of pros of collectivisation; if did not agree land confiscated
• rationing introduced 1961
• majority of land given to smallholdings of 7 hectares to landless farm workers; did not know how to work farms and unprofitable
• 1952 introduction of voluntary collectivisation attracted small scale farmers who were given financial incentives
• ideological aim of collectivisation reached
• agriculture started to improve in long term
• short term effects

  farmers fled west, food production declined, rationing 1961
• long term

  ideological aim of collectivisation reached, agriculture began to improve, 1963 more money invested by SED