Agriculture | Agriculture Ministers' Conference: Environmental standards at risk

"The current EU subsidy system is already fattening those who already have everything at the expense of the community." Reinhild Benning of the German Environmental Aid (DUH) told journalists on Tuesday. Subsidies are still being distributed to already large, industrial farms on a scattergun basis.

The DUH is part of the alliance "We're fed up!" , which has been fighting against environmentally destructive agricultural policies since 2011. When the agriculture ministers of the German federal states meet this Thursday for a special Agriculture Ministers' Conference (AMK), the alliance intends to hold an action at the meeting venue in Berlin to call on them to oppose the plans of the European Commission . The Commission intends to cut the budget for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and further lower the environmental standards to which the allocation of funding is tied. The agriculture ministers want to discuss the future of the CAP after 2027 – the current funding cycle runs until next year. No result is expected. Nevertheless, environmental and climate protection standards have already been lowered as part of the so-called simplification packages.

Agricultural support has been regulated at the European level since 1962. Initially, the aim was to establish rules on how to secure farmers' incomes and develop rural areas. Recently, the EU stipulated in its strategic plans that the objectives of the European Green Deal and the Biodiversity Strategy must be taken into account. After all, the alliance once set itself the goal of using 40 percent of its funding to reduce greenhouse gases.

EU funding for farmers is tied to compliance with environmental and climate protection standards. Even the current ones have been criticized by environmental organizations and scientists as inadequate. Two years ago, a study by the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) showed that the way the funds are being used has hardly any climate impact. The agency therefore recommended changes to existing laws, the rewetting of peatlands, more efficient use of fertilizers, a regional reduction in livestock numbers, and better distribution of funds.

Since agriculture's share of greenhouse gas emissions in Germany is estimated at more than 8 percent, the UBA considers control urgently necessary. This is also because more than half of agricultural emissions are attributable to the emission of the particularly climate-damaging methane. The gas is produced during the digestion of cattle and other ruminants, but also in biogas plants.

However, the CDU and CSU are currently only demanding inflation adjustment for the CAP budget, while the EU Commission is even considering cuts. In addition, CDU-led federal states want to follow the proposal of Federal Agriculture Minister Alois Rainer to lower the standards for good, organic farming. The motto: reducing bureaucracy.

Reinhild Benning fears that Rainer wants to "further erode the already minimal standards in animal welfare and environmental protection." In addition, there are efforts to obtain exemptions from the statutory minimum wage for agriculture, which would primarily affect low-paid seasonal workers. The alliance, in contrast, calls for subsidies to be linked to stricter environmental targets and for the introduction of mandatory state labeling for livestock farming.

The alliance supports the EU's call to boost farmers' incomes through binding contracts between the processing industry and supermarkets. Price dumping in food production must finally be stopped. Large dairies like Deutsche Milchkontor and retail chains like Aldi, Lidl, and others can still enforce dumping prices for raw milk through non-transparent and late payments to producers.

Benning emphasized that the current system primarily benefits large companies that produce heavily for export. Agricultural subsidies are still largely paid per hectare, which also benefits holdings such as the pharmaceutical company Merckle, the heating technology manufacturer Viessmann, and Aldi, some of which own agricultural businesses. For Benning, it is clear that environmental and climate protection measures as well as social standards also benefit farmers: "Without a stable climate, a functioning water balance, biodiversity, and healthy soils, food production will become increasingly difficult in the long term."