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Farmers warn of "unknown" price jumps

2022-03-25T12:16:29.897Z


Energy, fuel, fertilizer: Many things are becoming expensive for German farmers as a result of Putin's war of aggression in Ukraine. Why consumers could soon feel this.


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Baked goods in a bakery (stock image)

Photo: Martin Wagner / imago images / Martin Wagner

In view of the war in Ukraine, Germany's farmers are warning of "price jumps on an unprecedented scale" for food.

According to a paper by the German Farmers' Association (DBV), agriculture, but also the entire food chain, is faced with massive cost increases - especially in the areas of energy, fuel, fertilizers and logistics.

He urgently calls for "short-term and long-term measures" by the federal government and the EU to stabilize agricultural production.

In its paper, the DBV also warns that the Ukraine war will have “massive negative consequences for the world food situation”, especially in North Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

Food and supply security both in Germany and in the EU are now coming more into focus again – alongside climate change and the preservation of biodiversity.

According to the new Ukrainian Minister of Agriculture, food prices will rise worldwide if the situation in his country does not change.

Ukraine's grain stocks for export amounted to $7.5 billion, says Mykola Solskyi.

He didn't name a lot.

In order to increase production in the short term, the EU and the federal government have already proposed that farmers be allowed to build on so-called ecological priority areas, such as fallow land, this year as an exception.

According to the association's paper, this must be implemented "quickly, effectively and practically".

The association demands that German farmers should also be allowed to use pesticides on such areas.

Finally, the association also warns that "special attention" should be paid to fertilizer production in Germany and the EU.

In Germany, half of the nitrogen in agriculture comes from purchased mineral fertilizers, the production of which is very energy-intensive and dependent on natural gas.

In the event of an interruption in the gas supply and thus in the production of fertilizer, “significantly smaller harvests would be inevitable from 2023 onwards”.

Probably not a bread price of ten euros

However, DBV President Joachim Rukwied contradicted statements from his association, according to which the price of bread could rise to up to ten euros.

"I would see the price increase for bread less," says Rukwied.

For farmers, the production costs of arable crops have increased by a third due to higher energy and fertilizer prices.

The vice-president of the Schleswig-Holstein farmers' association, Klaus-Peter Lucht, had told the "Bild" newspaper that the price of bread could double to up to ten euros.

The reason for this is the recently significantly increased wheat price, according to Lucht.

However, according to the specialist portal »Agrar Today«, wheat accounts for just under four percent of the price of bread.

In addition, Germany hardly buys wheat from Ukrainian production because German farmers grow enough grain themselves.

Producer prices for agricultural products have not only been rising since the Ukraine war.

In January, for example, they increased by 21.2 percent compared to the same month last year.

They rose by 1.7 percent compared to the previous month of December.

Source: spiegel

All business articles on 2022-03-25

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