Transborder farming is an approach of virtual land consolidation. In small-structured land-scapes, a joint cultivation of adjoining plots allows a higher economic efficiency in produc-tion. Land tenure and tenancy as well as the use of the land are not changed by transbor-der farming. Farmers agree in common crop rotations and points of cultivation and man-age production by using the best mechanisation and the best know-how among them-selves for each working process. Therefore, it is almost not necessary to change land-scape elements. Investigations where the field size have been increased from one or two hectares to five or ten hectares have shown a reduction of labour of over 30 percent and of variable ma-chine costs of about 25 percent. At the same time, there are further positive economical effects, like a better market power and higher yields by using the best know-how among the farmers. Using GPS-based data management techniques, yields and costs can be georeferenced and allocated to each farmer’s partfield. Accordant data acquisition and processing sys-tems have been developed, tested and evaluated within this work. Beyond the economical and technical research, aspects of landscape and environment protection have been con-sidered. To avoid the risk of uncontrolled changes of the landscape structure, specific support programmes for transborder farming were suggested. Those could integrate fur-ther aims like a higher biodiversity, better biotope networks and soil protection. If possible, transborder farming should be realised in larger areas, for instance within the boundaries of one or more villages. It is recommended to arrange a digital land survey and a projection of expected soil erosion previous to the planning and realisation of a transborder farming system. Transborder farming could have a great importance for or-ganic farming in the future, because it enables the minimisation of edge areas and there-fore unwanted impacts of conventional cultivation methods on the fields around the or-ganic field. In spite of the convincing advantages of transborder farming, most of the farmers are sceptic regarding this joint cultivation method. Main reasons for that are the renstriction of individual autonomy of decision within a transborder field cooperation as well as the high priority for non-economic effects, for example the recreational meaning of farming to a part-time farmer.
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Transborder farming is an approach of virtual land consolidation. In small-structured land-scapes, a joint cultivation of adjoining plots allows a higher economic efficiency in produc-tion. Land tenure and tenancy as well as the use of the land are not changed by transbor-der farming. Farmers agree in common crop rotations and points of cultivation and man-age production by using the best mechanisation and the best know-how among them-selves for each working process. Therefore, it is almost not...
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