ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the agricultural transformation in Germany between 1945 and 1960. It sheds light on how new agricultural programs were worked out after the destruction of war, what role agricultural organizations played in the process and how new German state was able to direct the economic transformation without social conflict or political radicalization of the major players, the peasants. The scarce resources were stretched to feed the occupying troops with local resources. The hunger in the cities and industrial areas caused protest and strikes among German workers. To overcome food delivery problems and collaborate more efficiently, the British and American zone combined their administrative offices for agriculture and food distribution and merged two territories into the Bizonia in January 1947. The goal to secure food supplies was quickly accomplished and soon overproduction, rather than scarcity and shortages, became the biggest issue for the European Community. Thus, the hunger years of the immediate post-war period had become a distant memory.
