Farmer protests: Scholz assures farmers of relief

The farmers’ dissatisfaction is still great, and now Chancellor Scholz has promised further concessions: Among other things, the federal government wants to reduce bureaucracy for farmers, said Scholz at the Green Week.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz has announced further changes to German farmers after weeks of major protests. “We have big changes ahead of us, also when it comes to agriculture,” he said at the Green Week in Berlin. However, the changes must be made “carefully” – “and always with an eye on feasibility”.

Specifically, it is about changing the many regulations in Germany and at EU level so that life and work on the farm becomes easier. “There is actually far too much bureaucracy,” said Scholz. The government has already addressed a few points. “But we are still a long way from the situation we imagine for agriculture in the future,” added the SPD politician.

“Agriculture has big changes ahead of it”

There were specific discussions about how the German and European regulations could be changed. “This is something that everyone can rely on and is therefore also a good statement for the future of our agriculture,” said Scholz. Agriculture has major changes ahead of it, but these must be approached carefully.

The federal government also wants to discuss with the farmers “what pragmatic things we can do to make the economic activity of these companies easier and enable them to have a good economic future.” However, he did not mention possible specific points of discussion.

Green Week marked by protests

During a tour of the trade fair, Scholz found out about, among other things, new technology in agriculture – such as a harvesting robot and drones to protect fawns from vehicles in fields. He spoke to representatives of young farmers.

Farmers across the country have held large demonstrations in recent weeks to protest against cuts in state support. The federal government then abandoned the initially planned abolition of vehicle tax advantages for agricultural businesses. However, the elimination of subsidies for agricultural diesel will continue to be implemented – now gradually until 2026.