Abstract Plot sizes and farm-plot distances affect the economic performance of agricultural production. Their economic effects likely differ between conventional and organic farming systems due to major differences in crop production programs. Our paper quantifies these effects based on big data on resource requirements of field operations, summarized by regression models. Combined with detailed case study information obtained through interviews, we assess plot size and farm-plot distance effects for three case study farms which recently converted to organic farming. Our results show for both farming systems, as expected, that larger plot sizes reduce labor requirements and costs associated with crop production while larger farm-plot distances increase them. At same plot sizes and farm-plot distances organic farms face lower costs in crop production and, at given market prices, higher profits. Cost savings from larger plot sizes are, however, higher in conventional farming systems as are cost increases from growing farm-plot distances. This implies that economic benefits of conversion are higher for farms managing smaller plots farther away from the farm. Land fragmentation might hence favor switching to organic production and motivate regionally differentiated subsidy rates.

中文翻译：

---

有机和传统耕作系统中地块大小和农场距离的经济影响：德国农场层面的分析

摘要 地块大小和地块距离影响农业生产的经济绩效。由于作物生产计划的重大差异，传统和有机农业系统之间的经济影响可能有所不同。我们的论文基于对现场作业资源需求的大数据量化了这些影响，并通过回归模型进行了总结。结合通过访谈获得的详细案例研究信息，我们评估了三个最近转变为有机农业的案例研究农场的地块大小和农场-地块距离效应。我们的结果显示，正如预期的那样，对于两种耕作系统，较大的地块面积会减少与作物生产相关的劳动力需求和成本，而较大的农场地块距离会增加它们。在相同的地块大小和地块距离下，有机农场的作物生产成本较低，而在给定的市场价格下，则利润较高。然而，在传统耕作系统中，更大的地块所节省的成本更高，农场与地块距离的增加也会增加成本。这意味着对于管理距离农场更远的较小地块的农场来说，转换的经济效益更高。因此，土地碎片化可能有利于转向有机生产并激发区域差异化的补贴率。