Election program check: who wants what in agriculture?

More animal welfare, more environmental protection and more climate protection: experts consider changes in agriculture to be inevitable. But how do the various parties intend to promote the restructuring in the future? Many farmers hope for support.

Kathrin and Georg Muus stand in a wheat field in the middle of bulging ears. The harvest is coming soon. The two grew up on the farm in Horsdorf in Schleswig-Holstein. Farmer Muus runs the conventional farm together with his parents. Among other things, they grow wheat, sugar beets and rapeseed on around 400 hectares.

His sister Kathrin Muus is the chairwoman of the Federation of German Rural Youth. The conversion of agriculture towards more sustainability has been a concern for them for a long time. As one of the youngest representatives, she worked on the Agriculture Future Commission. It was specially convened by the Chancellor to reconcile farmers and environmentalists and to develop a vision for agriculture.

Great expectations of politics

The experts recently presented the key results: State funding for farmers is to be linked to conditions in the future, such as measures for more climate and animal protection. Consumers should consume less animal products. And there should be compensation for poor households if food prices rise due to the renovation. This would have to be implemented by the upcoming government.

The Muus siblings have high expectations. They are demanding that politicians support farmers financially in the restructuring of agriculture and, in the future, use all EU subsidies for this purpose. For example, when farmers take fields out of production in order to create more flower strips. “Then there is no longer any yield on this strip. And that is why the farmer should also be compensated for this environmental service that he provides there,” says Kathrin Muus.

Union and SPD with vague statements

Union, SPD, Die Linke and the Greens want to support farmers in restructuring their agriculture. In the joint election program of the CDU and CSU it says, for example: “We reliably support agriculture in ecological change.” However, the Union does not reveal the funds with which it would like to implement this. The SPD also remains vague. The party wants to “move away from area subsidies and towards subsidies that are linked to criteria for climate, nature and environmental protection and animal welfare”. In their election manifesto, however, the Social Democrats do not say until when that should happen.

Greens and leftists name more specific goals

At present, the farmers receive a large part of the agricultural subsidies as a flat-rate area premium. The Greens want to gradually replace direct payments with a public benefit bonus. Farmers are to receive the premium for environmental services. By 2028 it should be at least half of the funds. The left goes beyond that. From the coming funding period in 2028, direct payments will only be made to companies that meet “scientifically sound environmental and social criteria”. The party wants the “corporations that have benefited so far” to participate in the renovation costs of stables.

FDP and AfD with less content

In comparison, the topic of agricultural restructuring does not play a major role in the election manifestos of the FDP and AfD. The Free Democrats want to gradually reduce EU agricultural subsidies and make farmers independent of agricultural payments. However, the party does not specify how this should work.

The AfD wants to get out of the common agricultural policy of the EU and place the policy area “in the sole responsibility of the nation states”. The party rejects guidelines for farmers, for example in terms of fertilization. The AfD refers to the tightening of the fertilizer ordinance. This became necessary in 2020 because the groundwater in Germany is sometimes too heavily polluted with nitrate due to the spreading of liquid manure. The European Commission recently criticized the inadequate implementation of the Nitrates Directive in Germany.

Agricultural Economist: Groundbreaking Moment

The agricultural economist Professor Harald Grethe from the Humboldt University in Berlin currently sees a great opportunity to make agriculture more sustainable. Science has been saying what to do for a long time. For Grethe, this includes an EU funding policy geared towards environmental goals, a conversion of animal husbandry, rewetting of moors, a stricter fertilization policy and less production and consumption of animal products. With the proposals of the Future Commission for Agriculture, such recommendations would now also be broadly supported by representatives from environmental protection as well as from the agricultural side.

Inadequate offers in election programs

The scientist cannot see a comprehensive concept for this in any of the election programs. The parties were often too vague. “And very important challenges are not addressed at all. For example the fertilization policy or the reduction in the consumption of animal products. That is only addressed by the Greens,” says Grethe.

Financing remains unclear

The parties would also insufficiently address the question of financing. More species-appropriate animal husbandry and the conversion of stalls would cost three to five billion euros per year. That is not in any of the programs. “The Greens call the animal welfare cent. That doesn’t really do justice to the three to five billion euros. And the CDU, which would have had an entire legislative period to implement something like this, is not proposing any specific financing instrument,” criticizes the agricultural economist.

Kathrin and Georg Muus hope that a future government will implement the recommendations of the Agriculture Commission for the Future. The two are standing on a strip of water that they no longer use for agriculture. The humming and humming of the insects can be clearly heard here. They only mow the meadow once a year. They sold the edge strip to the water and soil association so that it can be used as fallow land for insect protection in the future. The state of Schleswig-Holstein has promoted sales, says farmer Muus. From his point of view, a “win-win situation” for nature and him as a farmer.