Ogni dieci anni, un gruppo di agricoltori tedeschi si riunisce nei terreni agricoli comunali dell’Osing per l’Osingverlosung, un rituale che risale a secoli fa. Ne parla un episodio del podcast Planet Money.

Every ten years, a group of German farmers gather in the communal farm fields of the Osing for the Osingverlosung, a ritual dating back centuries. Osing refers to the area. And verlosung means “lottery,” as in a land lottery. All of the land in this communal land is randomly reassigned to farmers who commit to farming it for the next decade.

Hundreds of years ago, a community in Germany came up with their own, unique solution for how to best allocate scarce resources. For this community, the lottery is a way to try and make the system of land allotment more fair and avoid conflict.