Translations:Manfred Klett: Von der Agrartechnologie zur Landbaukunst/97/en

Beyond this, the value formation of agricultural primary production is determined by two properties: first, by the capacity to reproduce itself again in the course of the production process, and second, to become foodstuffs for human beings and animals. The grain of wheat, for example, together with the soil into which it is sown, is a means of production for the next harvest and at the same time bread grain. The cow reproduces herself in the calf, and bound up with this process is her capacity to give more milk than is needed for raising the calf. The means of production of agriculture have the property of being able to reproduce themselves in the course of the production process and at the same time to become foodstuffs for human beings and animals. It is the task of the farmer to shape the conditions of cultivation and husbandry in such a way that both capacities sustainably hold each other in balance at a high level in the course of the production process. That means he must cultivate the wheat and so on here and now, keep, feed, care for, and breed the cow and so on in such a way that these living means of production preserve their particular properties into the far future

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