After long arguments about more animal and nature protection on farms and fields, the government is calling for a new beginning – also for itself. Concrete hardship tests for Eintracht are already coming.
After frequent friction in the federal government, the agriculture and environment ministries want to pull together in the planned restructuring of agriculture in the future.
The two department heads Cem Özdemir and Steffi Lemke from the Greens announced on Tuesday a joint approach towards more animal and nature conservation, which should also create secure financing for the farmers. Lemke spoke of a new “strategic alliance” that would also benefit consumers. Environmentalists and other associations again called for a fundamental “system change” in food production.
You want to “think about the other side”
Özdemir and Lemke used an agricultural congress of the environmental department to announce the alliance – and treated each other with a whole series of demonstrative friendliness after there had been smaller and larger conflicts between their predecessors Julia Klöckner (CDU) and Svenja Schulze (SPD). However, there are conflicting approaches, simply because the agricultural department is something like a small economics ministry, with a stronger focus on the industry.
There are fan friendships in football, said Özdemir, an ardent supporter of VfB Stuttgart. And in a similar way, “a kind of family friendship” should now be established between the two ministries. “The time when we squandered our energies in the tug-of-war between departments is a thing of the past.” In the future, instead of mutual blockades, you should think about “the other side”.
Lemke explained that this was “a Herculean task”. And it’s not like there can never be a fight again. However, the graduate agricultural engineer expressly mentioned supporting the income of the farms as a core task. She also knows how to milk a cow or muck out a pigsty by hand.
Plow different political fields
Specifically, the joint mission is about working on several political fields in parallel. Özdemir wants to introduce mandatory animal husbandry labeling before the end of this year. The implementation could not be easy, two attempts have already failed. Most recently, Klöckner wanted to put a voluntary animal welfare logo on the shelves with criteria above the legal standard – and repeatedly stated that this would only be binding throughout the EU. In addition, the large supermarket chains already have their own meat labeling. The logo with the inscription “Haltungsform” has four levels, but they start with the minimum standard.
Özdemir made it clear that the trading system cannot simply mean the solution. Everyone is invited to participate and get involved. “But it does not replace government action.” So he hasn’t heard that financing for the conversion of stables goes hand in hand when retailers want to remove meat from the lower husbandry levels from the offer, as announced. It is clear, however, that financial compensation for the farms must be organized. Because: “More air in the stables means less income.”
protection of biodiversity
The exact model is now being developed. “What matters is that the money ultimately reaches the farmers.” You don’t have to start from scratch, said Özdemir, expressly referring to proposals from two commissions that the old government had set up. In this, representatives of the food industry and farmers, nature and consumer protection groups, trade and science had reached a consensus – and those involved are urging the new government to build on this. Among other things, an “animal welfare tax” is under discussion, 40 cents more per kilogram of meat would be conceivable.
Lemke named the protection of biodiversity or the preservation of moors and forests as priorities. By Easter, she intends to present the key points for an “action program for natural climate protection”. It is about incentives and new income perspectives for farmers. The rewetting of agriculturally used moorland is considered an important component in the fight against climate change. The use of chemical pesticides is also to be reduced in cooperation with agriculture. EU agricultural funding must also be linked more closely to whether farms operate in a natural and environmentally friendly manner.
Özdemir at the farmers’ association
Özdemir presented the maxims directly to the farmers in the evening. The transformation must be tackled quickly, but it must also be plannable and feasible, he said at the start of the year for the farmers’ association. A farm is “not a franchise branch” that is prescribed central feed or the use of pesticides. The farmers are the experts, said Özdemir – and emphasized with regard to small and large, organic and conventional farms: “I want to be the minister of all farmers.” The whole of agriculture must become more sustainable, according to the motto: “No longer higher, faster further, but better, healthier and together.”
Farmer President Joachim Rukwied said the farms wanted to bring more animal welfare and sustainability to the fore. “It’s time to tackle that now.” It is important, however, that agriculture continues to offer young people in particular economic prospects for the future.
Opposition criticizes
Criticism of the new ministry friendship came from the opposition. Environmental protection in agriculture is “not a green invention,” said Union faction Vice Steffen Bilger (CDU). In the current difficult situation, farmers rightly expected that their interests would be aggressively represented in the government. The environmental organization WWF, on the other hand, said: “Together is better than alone.” Unity is also “bitterly needed” because challenges such as more biotopes, living soil and clean water can only be solved through environmental policy.
An alliance that otherwise calls for demonstrations every year at the Green Week trade fair in Berlin under the motto “We’ve had enough” wants to put further pressure on for an agricultural turnaround. A large protest march is canceled due to the Corona crisis, as is the trade fair. This Saturday, however, up to 30 tractors are supposed to drive through the government district, and the initiators also want to pass over demands to Özdemir. Ottmar Ilchmann, a conventional farmer with the rural agriculture working group, criticized a “clientele policy” that ignores the interests of the farms. “We don’t need cosmetic changes, we need a system change.”