Natural Resources, 2010, 1, 57-68 doi:10.4236/nr.2010.12006 Published Online December 2010 (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/nr) Copyright © 2010 SciRes. NR 57 From Thaer and Thünen until Today: Past and Future of Agricultural Landscape Use in Germany Harald Kaechele 1 , Sunil Nautiyal 2 1 Leibniz-Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Institute of Socioeconomics, Eberswalder, Muencheberg, Germany; 2 Centre for Ecological Economics and Natural Resources, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Nagarabhavi, Bangalore, India. Email: nautiyal_sunil@rediffmail.com Received October 12 th , 2010; revised November 13 th , 2010; accepted November 15 th , 2010. ABSTRACT This article intends to present the historical development of German agriculture sector over the last several decades and underlined the benefit of the advancement in agriculture sector to fulfill the growing food demand. At the same time the article discussed the ecological and socio-economic viewpoint of rapid technological development of agriculture sector in Germany. It would facilitate the debate on technological advancement in agriculture sector, which rapidly developing throughout the world, in the perspective of ongoing climate change and corresponding limit of sustainable socio-ecological development. Keywords: Agricultural Landscape, Energy Efficiency, Sustainable Agriculture, Technological Development, Climate Change 1. Introduction When Albrecht Daniel Thaer purchased the estate at Möglin in 1804, it was his intention to lay the founda- tions of rational agriculture. The highly successful physi- cian had realised quite early that the low productivity of the agricultural and silvicultural land use of that time could be overcome by means of appropriate management systems [1]. Thaer criticised the poor soil culture of the agricultural lands. For years he had been sustaining the double work burden as physician and agronomist. But from 1804 on he devoted his activity exclusively to agri- cultural matters having in mind the improvement of the art of field husbandry by overcoming the deficiencies found in the way land was being managed. His ‘Princi- ples of Rational Agriculture’ (1809-1812) published in four volumes, are generally regarded as the very founda- tion-stone of modern agricultural sciences [2]. Thaer perceived agriculture as an industry which would have to be performed in a sustainable and profit-orientated man- ner [1,3]. Thus he postulated two criteria which even 200 years after him have not lost any of their validity: Effi- cient agriculture, as we understand it today, is defined, to a considerable degree, by economic success. Furthermore, the idea of sustainability as demanded by Thaer, deter- mines the current debate on land use even when this concept has experienced a significant impetus over the past decades. Thaer insisted on the long-term and durable perspective in farming which this concept implies. But today, against the background of the dramatic decline of the natural bases of life, the ecological dimension of our actions has increasingly come under public scrutiny. In principle, this does not question Thaer’s demand for a rational agriculture, but is just made more precise in the light of recent developments and findings. The evolution of agricultural land use has, since Thaer’s times, revealed a hitherto unprecedented dynamics. Whilst until the mid-20th century not even 10 people were fed by one agricultural worker, this ratio was 1:126 in 2004! Since 1950 labour productivity in farming hence has been rising at an annual rate of over 6%. Which have been the factors contributing to this unparalleled boost in productivity achieved over a few decades which allowed to overcome the deficient soil culture stated by Thaer? And how does the outcome of a 200-year evolution look like under the perspective of the sustainability postulate introduced by Thaer? This paper is intended to help an- swering these questions, i.e. to make a contribution in terms of reflecting the developments of Central-Euro- pean agriculture starting with the situation as encoun- tered by Thaer and further on until today’s highly effi- cient agricultural production. It was at Möglin over 200 years ago where the foundations were conceived and later on deepened and further developed by the pupils of