Does nature protection status affect grassland utilisation and farming? - A German case study

Grassland area and management are affected by various national strategies, agricultural funds and regulations, especially grassland in conservation areas. To depict changes, we analysed annual data of the Integrated Administration and Control System for the period 2010 to 2015 from nine federal states of Germany. We see a positive trend of grassland area, as a whole and in conservation areas. In nature conservation areas the grassland is dominantly managed by large farms specialised on grazing. This implies that policies focussing on biodiversity protection in grassland must especially tackle these farms. Furthermore, we conclude that the conservation status of an area has effect on grassland development, farm size and farm type.