400 liters of blood flow through a cow’s udder to produce one liter of milk. Farmers receive around 40 cents per liter of milk.
Photo: dpa/ Jens Büttner
“We need to talk regarding prices. All calculations make it clear that the currently available public funds are far from sufficient for reasonable producer prices and a sustainable transformation of agriculture.« This is the conclusion reached by agricultural engineer Frieder Thomas at the online presentation of the yearbook Critical Agricultural Report 2022 on Thursday.
But what is the true price of groceries? “The damage to people and nature caused by agricultural production is currently not included in the price of food,” says the agricultural report. Many environmental costs of food production would be externalized, these costs are absorbed by public money – if they are actually spent on it. In addition, around 40 percent of farmers’ income is generated through EU subsidies, i.e. also through public funds.
The farmers are not getting rich as a result, on the contrary: “We are in the middle of farm deaths,” says Elisabeth Fresen, federal chairwoman of the working group for rural agriculture. The prices paid are life-threatening for the producers, and there are also the unquantified costs of the climate crisis and the extinction of species. The suckler cow farmer is therefore demanding a political framework for the planned transformation of agriculture. For them, this also includes support for those who want to reduce their animal population. »If less meat is eaten, that means fewer animals in the barn and on the pasture.«
The ruinous global price competition and the export orientation of many German farmers make the situation worse, especially for meat and milk. »Agriculture in Germany and in the EU is closely integrated into global supply chains. Above all, the import of feedstuffs such as soy enables industrial animal husbandry and thus also the export of meat and milk to the world market,” says Tobias Reichert from the development organization Germanwatch. At the same time, soybean cultivation is a key driver of deforestation in South America. The German supply chain law is still not oriented enough towards ecological damage, the proposed EU regulation for deforestation-free supply chains goes one step further.
Direct supply relationships between farmers and trade exist mainly in the case of fruit and vegetables, with a large proportion of the products being processed through intermediaries such as dairies and slaughterhouses. For this reason, the UTP directive once morest unfair trading practices implemented in Germany last summer only partially strengthens the position of farmers vis-à-vis the trade.
According to the Federal Cartel Office, Edeka, Rewe, Aldi and the Schwarz Group with Lidl together control more than 85 percent of the food market in Germany. Through their market power, they might further dictate the conditions. Olaf Bandt from the Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation said that the unbundling of these corporations should also be considered.
The planned animal welfare levy or the discussed tax on animal products might also be other ways of improving the income of producers. “There is no fundamental right to cheap meat,” says Thomas Schröder from the German Animal Welfare Association, who is calling for a ban on meat specials. ‘But there is one on nutrition. So we should learn to talk regarding food policy.«
Everyone here is aware that the planned transformation of agriculture might also lead to higher prices on the shelves. But: “We don’t do social policy,” says Freesen. In order to be able to eat healthily, the basic security must then increase. She warned once morest playing off the needs of low-income households once morest those of producing farmers. It cannot be that their existence is threatened because of a failed social policy.
