A dispute over agricultural policy has broken out between the governing coalition and the Greens. The reason for this is the war in the Ukraine and the consequent imminent loss of grain imports from there. Minister of Agriculture Michaela Kaniber (CSU) and the chairman of the agricultural committee in the state parliament, Leopold Herz (FW), demand as a countermeasure that domestic grain cultivation be ramped up and that the so-called set-aside be avoided – i.e. the activation of agricultural areas that are not farmed for ecological reasons. The Greens politician and organic farmer Gisela Sengl rejects the demand. She speaks of “purely symbolic politics”.
Set-aside is part of EU agricultural policy. According to this, farmers who want to benefit from EU agricultural subsidies must take four percent of their usable area out of production. The fallow land is intended to preserve biodiversity and other ecological purposes. The requirement will come into force in 2023. Kaniber is now questioning her about the Ukraine war. Ukraine is “the granary of Europe” and a major producer of corn, barley and sunflower oil. The effects of the war there would therefore be clearly felt by cattle farmers and consumers. As a countermeasure, she recommends a reversal of set-aside so that farmers can produce more grain. “Europe must make itself even more independent of other countries when it comes to food supply,” says Kaniber. From the point of view of FW politician Herz, it is also “of utmost importance to preserve areas for food production in order to reduce import dependency”.
The Green politicians Sengl thinks nothing of it. According to her, a reversal of set-aside has practically no effect on grain volumes in Europe. She relies on calculations according to which a maximum of three percent of the impending import losses can be compensated for. At the same time, Sengl emphasizes the importance of fallow land for biodiversity. Their demand: the farmers should plant less feed grain for intensive cattle and pig farming and instead more bread grain.