Status: 05/30/2022 2:39 p.m
In the supermarket you can clearly see how the prices of milk, butter and other groceries are rising. But why are many things in agriculture becoming more expensive at the moment?
Gunnar Hemme is standing in the aisle of the cowshed in Angermünde, Brandenburg. Next to him are the cows, between them lies the feed for the animals. It is a brown straw-like mixture of several components. Hemme picks up this mixture and explains: “It’s alfalfa, clover and corn.”
Feed cost factor
He grows them himself on his farm. His tractors need diesel for this, and that is expensive: in 2020, the average diesel price was 1.12 euros per liter. In the first quarter of 2022, it rose to 1.82 – an increase of almost 62 percent. This also makes the feed more expensive. But that’s not all. The feed mixture for Hemmes cows also contains rapeseed meal and supplementary feed. “The price of rapeseed meal has doubled, and the minerals in supplementary feed have also become significantly more expensive,” says Hemme.
Even in the barn you get an idea of the price pressure farmers are under: In March 2022, milk producer prices in Germany were 34.7 percent higher than in March 2021. And not only milk has become more expensive. Tomatoes now cost 48 percent more, sunflower oil 42 percent and eggs 32 percent.
electricity cost factor
Farmers also pass on the increased costs for electricity to consumers. Between April 2021 and April 2022, the price of electricity rose by almost 20 percent. Farmer Hemme also notices this clearly, because his farm needs a lot of electricity for milk processing: milking system, heating, cooling.
“Everyone knows from home: The refrigerator eats up electricity. But we have an XXL refrigerator here and it needs XXL electricity.” Although Hemme has a solar system on the roof, he cannot cover his electricity needs with it, and his electricity costs are still rising.
cost factor packaging
Before the milk goes to the customers, it is bottled and packed in white cartons for transport. A machine folds the cardboard into a stable box in a matter of seconds. Hemme buys the cardboard boxes from a dealer. “We had gotten them ten percent more expensive before the Ukraine story. And now there was another 20 percent on top of that. And I don’t know yet whether that’s the end.”
In general, when it comes to packaging, he is dependent on suppliers and their prices. For example, with the small shiny lids for the butter churn: “They are all aluminum-based. They have become 30, I think almost 40 percent more expensive because the price of aluminum has gone up so enormously,” says Hemme.
Understanding among customers – yet
A liter of Hemme whole milk now costs 1.29 euros in the supermarket. Farmer Hemme doesn’t hear what the customers on the shelves say about it. But he has a small farm shop. Then he hears what people are saying. They still understand the rising milk prices there, he says. But for how much longer? Because the next price increase is already in sight: on June 1, Hemme has to increase the price for his milk by ten cents per liter – to then 1.39 euros.