Spatio-Temporal Patterns of Field Structural Change and Related Farm Developments

This file is a working paper on "Spatio-Temporal Patterns of Field Structural Change and Related Farm Developments", linked to WP 3 activities of the BrightSpace project. Abstract Understanding how the structures of agricultural fields change over time can provide valuable insights into the impacts of institutional and infrastructural changes, farmers’ economic decisions, or natural conditions on the landscape. Existing studies provide evidence of field structural change from small case studies over extended periods. While valuable for detailed site-specific insights, generalizations from single or a few case study sites are prone to omission of heterogeneity from excluded relevant areas, thereby inaccurately capturing the condition in larger regions of interest. We conduct a large-scale spatial analysis of field structural change in Lower Saxony, Germany, to understand the pattern of change in field size, shape, and density in every agriculturally productive 10 km2 area of the study area. We relate these changes to the changes in farm size and number of farms in the districts of Lower Saxony. Our results show that field structural changes vary between areas and districts, but within eastern or western sides of the study area, most areas and districts exhibit a similar direction of change. The relationship between observed heterogeneous changes in field structure and changes in farm structure differs depending on whether districts mainly cultivate cereals, forage crops, or grasslands. These varied results suggest the need for differentiated strategies for improving the effectiveness and targeting of landscape sustainability policies. Efforts to change fields and landscape outcomes through farm-level structural changes might need to pay attention to not just farm size but to differentiation arising from main cultivated crops. Citation Aladesuru, D. T., Kuhn, T., Baumert, J., Wieck, C., Storm, H. (2026). Spatio-Temporal Patterns of Field Structural Change and Related Farm Developments. Working paper. BrightSpace Horizon Europe project GA Nr. 101060075. DOI 10.5281/zenodo.19330011. ---------------Funding acknowledgement BrightSpace is funded by the European Union. Grant Agreement No. 101060075. Views and opinions expressed are those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of th European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. UK Research and Innovation Project Code: 10047415 https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=10047415 This work is also funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany's Excellence Strategy – EXC 2070 – 390732324 (PhenoRob). Legal notice This document was produced under the terms and conditions of Grant Agreement No. 101060075 for the European Commission. It does not necessary reflect the view of the European Union and in no way anticipates the Commission’s future policy in this area. The European Commission is not liable for any consequence stemming from the reuse of this publication. © BrightSpace, 2026 The reuse of this document is authorised under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CCBY 4.0) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). This means that reuse is allowed provided appropriate credit is given and any changes are indicated. For any use or reproduction of elements that are not owned by the BrightSpace consortium, permission may need to be sought directly from the respective right holders. Project information BrightSpace Horizon Europe project Grant Agreement No. 101060075 https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101060075CALL: Innovative governance, environmental observations and digital solutions in support of the Green DealWORK PROGRAMME Topic ID: HORIZON-CL6-2021-GOVERNANCE-01-12 EU agriculture within a safe and just operating space and planetary boundaries BrightSpace Project coordination: Wageningen Economic Research, The Hague, NL Contact: brightspace.wser@wur.nl | Website: www.brightspace-project.eu Project duration: 1 November 2022 – 31 October 2027