Yesterday, Germany’s Agriculture Futures panel delivered its report to chancellor Angela Merkel. Its main recommendations revolve around retaining family farms and reconciling animal welfare, climate impacts, sustainability and shoppers’ food needs.
The report recommends a wide-ranging reorganization of Germany’s agricultural and food supply sectors, underpinned by state investments. It should encourage costlier but environmentally improved production and resulting pricing among consumers used to buying at discount at supermarkets.
Merkel described the report’s delivery as a “significant day” for Germany, asserting that the next government would not be able to ignore the panel’s findings. The commission was initiated by Merkel in 2019 during hefty protests over farming policy. It brought together 31 top representatives of Germany’s farming, food retailing, consumer, ecological, animal welfare and scientific sectors, chaired by Professor Peter Strohschneider.
“Ecologically responsible agriculture can be economically attractive and economically beneficial,” said the former president of Germany’s DFG research funding institute.
The panel’s report follows the “green light” given last month by the EU’s 27 agriculture ministers, including Julia Klöckner, of Merkel’s conservatives, for the bloc’s next Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) period, from 2023 until 2027. Of Germany’s 358,000 km2, 51% is used for agriculture and 30% for forestry, with urbanization and transport taking 14%.
Source: dw.com
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