When Michael Eberl talks about the color yellow, he sees red. The farmer from Tittenkofen runs the Soana farm with his family, a business with bull fattening and arable farming. He gave up dairy farming seven months ago (we reported), but silage maize, grain maize and wheat are still in his fields. He's actually a friendly man in his mid-fifties, the father of four children, two of whom are already working. What makes him so angry, however, is that, according to him, the erroneous classification of his areas as so-called eutrophic areas, which are marked in yellow on the map - and which entail high requirements for fertilization.
Titskofen - Already at the end of 2020, a corresponding regulation was published in the Bavarian Ministerial Gazette, in which every area affected is listed. In the event of heavy precipitation, arable land should also be washed away from Eberl's areas and flow into the strogen. The strogen in the district of Erding is contaminated with phosphate, which ensures increased growth of aquatic plants and algae. Eberl does not deny that agriculture is partly responsible for this. However, he is certain that no sediment to which phosphorus is bound can be washed into the strogen with rainwater, the mapping is completely wrong.
“As a farmer, I too am in favor of clean water as an indispensable basis of life for nature and us humans,” he clarifies. "As long as these designations are comprehensible and also feasible, I, like many of my colleagues, accept such agricultural areas with high nitrogen pollution in the water as so-called red areas." However, around 70 percent of his fields are yellow areas - almost one level below should, Eberl doesn't understand at all.
A large part of his fields, seen from Tittenkofen in the direction of Erding, is to the left of the state road 2082 running there. “Most of these areas are designated by the Munich Water Management Office as drainage areas for the Strogen, marked as yellow areas. At the same time, no water could flow into the strogen from these areas because they are much deeper than the brook, ”Eberl is convinced.
According to him, such an error in the classification in "yellow areas" means unpleasant consequences for the farmers concerned: They would have to implement a compulsory cultivation of catch crops and, given the appropriate topography, maintain extended water distances for fertilization. Eberl says: “I have been growing catch crops for 25 years, and after cereals there is nothing wrong with it. But with fruits that are harvested later, there is no benefit for me apart from more costs and work and for nature. "
When asked by WWA that a direct inlet was not possible, he was told: "Water from the said fields could flood the state road and then flow in the direction of Lohkirchen to the so-called Black Ditch." “There has never been water in this ditch, the street has never been flooded in living memory. How is that supposed to work? ”This summer, the WWA invited to a press conference at the Schwarzen Graben, during which it was found that no water was running into the ditch from the surrounding areas. Eberl thinks that is absurd.
"I feel like Buchbinder Wanninger, being sent from one authority to another - and nobody is responsible," says Eberl, who is in contact with the Erdinger Agriculture Office, CSU state parliament member Ulrike Scharf and the head of the water management and soil protection department in the state office for Environment (LfU) - only to end up back at WWA.
Incidentally, during an on-site meeting with farmers and politicians at Buch am Buchrain in the summer, this authority investigated the claim of an operations manager that his fields were also affected by incorrect mapping (we reported). The farmer was able to prove that the water on his area is flowing in a completely different direction than claimed. As reported, Christian Leeb, head of the water management office, also admitted that errors can certainly occur when mapping the various areas. Classifications are made on the computer, "in individual cases" there could be incorrect evaluations, "which we can check locally".
Meanwhile, Eberl is generally concerned about the future of his business.
He wonders “what else will come of us in the next few years.
It feels like new thumbscrews are put on us farmers every few months.
So it's no wonder that many small businesses are giving up. ”He and his colleagues in the district could take legal action against an incorrect classification.
"But this requires an expert opinion, and we don't have the time: Something like this can take up to twelve years, not to mention the financial commitment."
“After all, it's about the credibility of the fertilizer ordinance and agricultural policy.
If we want to keep small farms, something has to change. "
