Wine farms cover
24,700 acres, i.e. 6% of the Nature Reserve. In the Pfälzerwald
area, these intensively farmed vineyards lie mainly on
the Haardt foothills.
The land at the foot of the forest consists of a mosaic
of pastureland, fields for hay-making (sometimes overlooked
by fruit trees), and natural woodland. Only isolated terraces
are devoted to intensive wine-farming. Those vineyards
where the consolidated rural land-holding allow successful
farming are highly profitable.
Wine-farming is also intensive on the eastern edge of
the area (on loess and other low hills). However, the
insistence on profitability is leading to the progressive
destruction of the former wine-farms with their own special
characteristics which contributed significantly to the
charm of this typical landscape.
The number of biological wine-farms in the area is lower
than the national average.
