In the dispute over the release of agricultural fallow land for grain cultivation, the head of the State Association for Bird Protection (LBV), Norbert Schäffer, sharply criticizes Agriculture Minister Michaela Kaniber (CSU). “Ecology is not a luxury, but indispensable in order to have fertile soil in the long term and to be able to produce food,” says Schäffer. “Anyone who sacrifices the current 20,000 hectares of fallow agricultural land in Bavaria, which is of outstanding importance for biodiversity, is unnecessarily fueling the biodiversity crisis.”
The background to the dispute is the war in Ukraine and the impending failure of grain imports. As a countermeasure, Kaniber is demanding that domestic grain cultivation be ramped up and that land set aside – i.e. to activate agricultural land that is not cultivated for ecological reasons. “We are heading towards a food crisis, if not starvation, in many parts of the world and in Ukraine itself,” Kaniber said just recently. “We have to react to that.”
There are around 3.1 million hectares of agricultural land in Bavaria, two-thirds of which is arable land. The 20,000 hectares of agricultural fallow land make up just 0.65 percent of the total agricultural area and one percent of the fields in Bavaria. From 2023, farmers are obliged to set aside four percent of their arable land if they want to benefit from EU agricultural subsidies. Of course, experts believe that ten percent of arable land should be set aside in order to promote biodiversity.
According to Schäffer, if farmers are actually supposed to grow more grain for food, there are three levers. “First, eat less meat,” he says. “A large portion of local grain, corn and soy ends up in the stomachs of pigs and cattle instead of on the plate.” Second, limit the cultivation of energy corn for biogas plants. And lastly, throw away less food. “Large parts of the harvest do not end up in the shops, but are sorted out for primarily aesthetic reasons,” says Schäffer. Federal Minister of Agriculture Cem Özdemir (Greens) also thinks little of Kaniber’s demand. The EU Commission has made it possible for the member states to allow grain cultivation on brownfield land. But Özdemir doesn’t want to take the option.