It was already a small class in Proto-Germanic, though it may have remained marginally productive.

They are under pressure to invest in more efficient irrigation or to retire marginally productive land, which sucks up too much water.

Lands that had been marginally productive were abandoned, as the survivors were able to acquire more fertile areas.

At the west edge of the field is the small and abandoned Greenacres Area, which was marginally productive, between 1953 and 1969.

Agriculture here remains dominated by small, marginally productive farms that are tilled with horse-drawn plows.

It diverted labor and resources from agriculture to marginally productive cottage industry and so contributed to years of famine.

Simple changes in individual farmers' irrigation methods, plus retirement of marginally productive land, might save enough to replace the other half.

Rather, he said, the town was encouraging the farmers to sell only their marginally productive land.

Overpopulation had led to the cultivation of marginally productive land and its attendant problems.

Another allows new write-offs for wells that are marginally productive.