Agriculture in the Transfrontier Biosphere Reserve has gone through dramatic changes over the last fifty years. The valleys in the Reserve that were previously farmed, or used for market gardening, have been progressively deserted. The land has been left fallow, with Nature steadily reclaiming the land in a natural evolution.

Haymaking © SYCOPARC

The main reason for this change was that local farmers and peasants had difficulty making a living from farms that were often split into several holdings, given in addition the limited size of the area each farmer worked and the poor soil. Today only the richest, most easily mechanised land is still farmed, mainly under a system of mixed crop - livestock farming.

A face of the soil © SYCOPARC

However, the local farmers have improved quality significantly, adapting their techniques to their milieu in general as well as to their particular environment. Given the specific know-how the farmers have acquired in producing these products, and the products' intrinsic qualities, they have become more and more popular with the consumer thus ensuring their success when launched as part of a Transfrontier Biosphere Reserve marketing campaign.

The Reserve's farmers now appear to have a promising future in these quality products that respect two main principles:

- they are based on the farmers' distinctive local know-how,
- and take the specific characteristics and potential of the local milieu into account.

Fruit-picking in a local orchard © Raphël Marquez

Since the 1960s, the type of farming in the Pfälzerwald has changed rapidly. This can be seen in the reduction in the number of livestock (less so for sheep). At present only 50 farms are left on which farming is the owner's main economic activity; there are more for whom it provides a secondary income. They are concentrated in the south of the Pfälzerwald where a considerable amount of land has been cleared.

Sheep-droving in Germany © NPP

Taking all farms into consideration, some are mixed, with cattle and sheep, while others farm cattle only. Yet others are sheep-farmers who still practice droving, especially around Annweiler. This is due to poor agricultural conditions, soil, climate, unconsolidated landholdings, especially in adjacent field-cropping areas, where more and more land is being left fallow or simply abandoned.

In addition to these genuine farms, more and more people now have several jobs, including raising horses, beef cattle, sheep and/or goats with the aim of maintaining their immediate surroundings in their former state.

The impact of agriculture on the scenery - Haspelschiedt, © SYCOPARC