Oberallgäu - How do the Allgäu direct candidates "tick" for the upcoming federal election?
The district associations of Lindau and Oberallgäu in the Bavarian Farmers' Association BBV wanted to find out and had invited the constituency applicants of the eight most important parties to a farm.
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... as well as Dr.
Rainer Rothfuß (AfD), Engelbert Blessing (Die Linke), and Franz Josef Natterer-Babych (ödp) obtain personal perspectives and positions.
© Gutsmiedl
Towards the end of the “hearing”, FDP candidate Stephan Thomae made it clear: One could not expect miracles from an Allgäu member of the Bundestag.
Thomae speaks from experience: He has been a member of the German Bundestag (again) for four years.
Farmer Florian Hierl from Immenstadt makes another comment.
Paying lip service is not helping the farmers.
You need comrades-in-arms in parliament, committed supporters.
How do you feel with the farmers?
What are the prospects for small-scale agriculture?
Does it even have a future in its current form?
In the Allgäu?
The two district associations of Lindau and Oberallgäu in the Bavarian Farmers' Association (BBV) wanted to get answers to these questions from the regional direct candidates for the German Bundestag during a discussion at Thomas Kögel's dairy farm in Immenstadt-Thanners.
The BBV itself has formulated its position and objectives in a ten-point catalog under the title "Strengthening the future of family farms and rural areas" before the upcoming federal elections and speaks of family farms as a "green foundation for our country".
Are the farmers still a relevant target group for parties these days? Alfred Enderle, President of the Swabian BBV and the Oberallgäu district association, sees agriculture as an important industry for the region, not least with a view to tourism. The Lindau and Oberallgäu district associations represented around 3,500 farms, as well as a whole range of partners and family members - a considerable number of potential voters, according to Enderle. “And we are interested in what the candidates think of agriculture,” Enderle rang in the group, and turned to the eight direct candidates from the most important parties in the federal constituency “256 Oberallgäu / Lindau”.
With Mechthilde Wittmann (CSU), Stephan Thomae (FDP), Martin Holderied (SPD), Annette Hauser-Felberbaum (Free Voters), Pius Bandte (Bündnis90 / Greens), Dr.
Rainer Rothfuß (AfD), Engelbert Blessing (left) and Franz Josef Natterer-Babych (ödp).
Farmer Thomas Kögel already took up the "hot iron" tethering during his brief introduction to the company.
He believes that the combined housing is a good standard for animal welfare: tethered stalls and as much grazing as possible.
He did not want to conclusively assess the issue of playpen versus tethering.
Most recently, Bavaria's Agriculture Minister Michaela Kaniber had indicated that the classic tethering would have to be phased out in the Free State.
Keyword animal welfare
Wittmann: The minister “expressed herself unhappily” in her position on animal welfare and housing types.
The known tethered posture today is not comparable with previous situations.
The so-called combi-housing with fixed stalls and plenty of grazing is common practice for many farms in the Allgäu: "Grazing is animal welfare." There are black sheep everywhere on this issue, but no farmer willfully harm his animals, treat them badly or torture them.
Thomae:
“An EU official has a hard time evaluating the tethering that is widespread in the Allgäu.” Ultimately, the way animals are kept is also a question of entrepreneurial freedom: one shouldn't obstruct the successor's economic future by being forced to invest.
Holderied:
The Allgäu is a long way from factory farming.
Hauser-Felberbaum:
Combined keeping is definitely a practicable way.
There are black sheep in every industry.
"My father once said: Three percent of every job are criminals ..." The family farms are largely a guarantee of security in this regard.
It is important to facilitate corresponding investments.
Bandte:
“The scandals show that there is often a lack of personal connection to agriculture.” On the other hand, a large farm can also function well in this regard.
Playpen construction?
No company can be expected to completely convert the company twice within a generation.
There is a lack of planning security.
Rothfuß:
“Who defines that playpens are the ultimate?
A reasonable tethering doesn't have to be bad. ”Turning everything inside out isn't the best way.
It is important to support smaller units to get away from growing or giving way.
Blessing:
“It's not the small businesses that cause scandals.” But global trade agreements in particular weakened family farms.
Natterer-Babych:
Animal welfare shows itself in a recognizable feeling of well-being of the animals.
He draws the line to industrial animal husbandry at around 50 animals per worker;
for the classic family business that means around 100 animals per farm.
Keyword appreciation
Bandte:
“Agriculture has a great responsibility for protecting the climate and species, and yet too little support.
That has to change. ”The appreciation is reflected in the prices for food: In comparison, Germans spend very little money on it.
"That clearly shows the appreciation."
Thomae:
“None of us in the Bundestag will be able to do miracles.” Nevertheless, he could promise that we would stick to things and keep talking to the farmers in the region.
Rothfuß:
"Some consumers are dependent on cheap food." A structural problem - social policy through food prices?
Free trade in food is unfair, yes, destructive, prevents cost-covering production and better revenues for local producers.
Hauser-Felberbaum:
“The consumer looks at the price.” Education about the relationship between quality and price must start at an early stage in schools and kindergartens.
“Knowing what good costs are is crucial.
If you don't know, you don't appreciate it. "
Blessing:
The minimum wage should also apply to farmers - a minimum wage of 13 euros.
Holderied
sees it the same way and calls for a “societal solution”.
Natterer-Babych: It wo
n't work without the EU and a common agricultural policy.
“But the EU must be able to listen to the regions.” And the organic chain must be continuous;
An organic product should not be made from an everyday raw material.
Wittmann:
"EU-wide minimum wage is a merciless dream dance!" For example, a German minimum wage for a seasonal worker from the Balkans is definitely a good wage - measured against the living conditions at home.
Free trade also requires a sense of proportion: “This is not a one-way street;
Germany is an export nation. "
Florian Hierl, a farmer in Immenstadt-Bühl, feared in the discussion with the Bundestag candidates that nothing would remain after the election day except lip service. You cannot "blow away" a free market. Much, whether sensible or not, simply has to be accepted and put into practice, such as high requirements in terms of biodiversity or the new manure regulation. "Who will help us?"