change into a politically desired direction. In some countries farmer or-
ganizations adopted new points of view, formerly not associated with
knowledge of agricultural production. In some cases this also had mar-
keting reasons.
Horticultural production in Germany today, and to some degree all
over the world, is characterized by a target system that may be described
by the interaction of the components yield (economy), environment, and
quality (Figure 15.1). The problems arising from these interactions are
as follows.
High yieldper se is no longer the main aim of horticultural produc-
tion, even though it is the basis for a sound economy of the enterprises
considered. The German market is characterized by imports that fill
the gaps of supply from domestic production, only slightly increasing
consumption, keeping stagnant or even decreasing retail prices. In a sit-
uation like this product attributes other than the price give relative ad-
vantages for one product over the other.
286 INTEGRATING PROBLEM-ORIENTED RESEARCH
Integration
Target System
yield
quality
environ-
ment
3
4
1
2
FIGURE 15.1Target system.