Individual farm enterprises continued to gain in importance in 1996. They account for four fifths of all agricultural operations but farm only slightly more than one fifth of the agricultural area in the new federal states.The number of partnerships has likewise increased markedly, more than doubling since 1991. These approximately 2,800 partnerships farm a total of about one fifth of the agricultural area.

Compared to the individual farm enterprises and partnerships, the number of agricultural operations in the form of legal entities changed very little between 1991 and 1996; in 1996 these roughly 2,900 legal entities farmed more than half of the agricultural area.

The ownership structure in the new states of the Federal Republic of Germany is fundamentally different from that in the old states. Only three fourths of the agricultural operations - above all the newly reestablished family farms and specialized horticultural enterprises- farm land of their own. On average, 90 percent of the land farmed by all agricultural operations in the new states is leased; in the old states the figure is only 47 percent.