The federal government wants to support farmers with a total of one billion euros if they convert their stables for more animal welfare. That’s not enough, the states complain. They also demand a long-term concept.
The federal states have demanded more money from the federal government for the conversion of livestock farming in Germany. There is currently a lack of financial security, said Saxony’s Minister of Agriculture Wolfram Günther (Greens) after an extraordinary conference of agriculture ministers in Berlin. More money must be made available by the federal government if the goal is a “really comprehensive system”, said the conference chairman, Schleswig-Holstein’s Minister of Agriculture Werner Schwarz (CDU).
federal program pig farming limited
The federal government intends to support farmers with a total of one billion euros in converting their stables to higher animal husbandry standards and with ongoing additional costs. Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s Agriculture Minister Till Backhaus (SPD) complained on the sidelines of the conference that this was only ten percent of the need for support determined by a commission. The planned federal program has so far been limited to pig farming – there has also been criticism of that.
Federal Minister of Agriculture Cem Özdemir said that the funding of one billion euros was only the start. The Green politician also emphasized that the traffic light coalition in the federal government is doing more than previous governments. It is important to start now with the restructuring of livestock farming.
According to Minister Schwarz, the federal government was asked to present a concept for the next conference of agriculture ministers in autumn that takes into account the entire lifespan of a pig. So far, the plans of the federal government have left out sow husbandry, for example.
countries would have “gathered together”
According to Lower Saxony’s Agriculture Minister Miriam Staudte, the federal states have “really pulled themselves together”. The states had agreed that the federal government had to provide sufficient and permanent funding for the conversion of livestock farming. A long-term financing concept for the entire conversion is necessary.
“The big challenge is to give animals more space while at the same time complying with the requirements for clean air,” said the Greens politician. The agriculture ministers have given a common signal for uniform application, so that the approvals are no longer blocked by conflicting requirements. There is a risk that stables that are converted for more animal welfare will release more emissions – for example because the animals can also get fresh air. Then exhaust air purification would no longer be possible. However, the emissions could be greatly reduced through structural measures and barn management.
The German Farmers’ Association is pushing for concrete results. It is certainly positive that there is a broad consensus on the necessary improvements to labeling, financing and interpretation of the “Technical Instructions for Air Pollution Control” (TA Luft). “As before, however, there are only general work orders for expert groups and no binding and short-term time limit. We no longer have this time,” criticized the Secretary General of the Farmers’ Association, Bernhard Krüsken.
Closing the significant gaps in funding and in the Animal Husbandry Labeling Act could not be delayed either. In the words of Baden-Württemberg’s Minister of Agriculture, Peter Hauk, the already tense situation of livestock farms is being exacerbated by the lack of planning security when the livestock husbandry is being restructured at the same time. “We have to counteract a structural break in livestock farming in Germany. To do this, we need a fair and practicable overall concept in order to offer as many companies as possible a sustainable basis for aligning animal husbandry with more animal welfare,” demanded the CDU politician.
“Nobody can buy anything from the explanations.”
NRW Agriculture Minister Silke Gorißen (CDU) said it was positive that the federal government was moving in the right direction when it came to converting livestock farming. With many demands for stable conversion, the government has promised to address the ideas of the federal states in the near future. But unfortunately the federal government has not yet presented a solution to the central demand – for a practicable financing concept for the conversion of animal husbandry with more money – she told the “Rheinische Post”.
“At the end of the day, no company can buy anything from the declarations,” said the managing director of the interest group of pig farmers in Germany, Torsten Staack. It is crucial that one agrees on uniform criteria. “These are currently such major hurdles that even companies that have already started would shy away from making investments.”