Pig farmers hardly earn anything with their products.
Bad prices, high costs, increasing demands on animal welfare - Ludwig Wittmann from Gänsstall near Ampermoching describes the struggle for their existence.
District
- The Bavarian Farmers Association sounds the alarm: "The pig farmers' situation is dramatic," said Simon Sedlmair, district chairman of the Bavarian Farmers Association, in a press release.
“Catastrophic producer prices, high costs, constantly growing demands on animal welfare, a lack of planning security for investment decisions, insurmountable obstacles to building permits” - this is what the pig farmers struggle with.
In the past ten years, their number has also decreased drastically in the Dachau district.
In the past ten years, their number has also decreased drastically in the Dachau district. "In total there are only five piglet producers and ten pure fattening farms that can still hold up", according to the BBV. While there were 28 breeding farmers in 2013, this year there were only 13 (as of May 2021).
"In all of Germany there have been a quarter fewer pigs in the last three years," knows 56-year-old Ludwig Wittmann from Gänsstall, who, together with his wife Josefine and son Ludwig, is the fifth generation of the farm that he has taken over from his in-laws. operates. In 1970, when the Wittmanns switched from cattle and pig farming to pure pig farming, the family could still make a living from it. The pandemic year 2020 is another reason for the decline in the demand for pork due to the many canceled festivals, celebrations and major events. The outbreak of African swine fever in Germany and the related import ban in China and South Korea, the strongest sales market for pork, is also causing enormous problems for pig farmers.
75 percent of the meat from the Wittmann family's pigs ends up in regional butchers.
The Wittmanns have switched to husbandry level 2.
That means: The pigs got more space, and the piglets of the currently 80 sows stay with the mother for 28 days and only then come into the fattening house.
The Wittmanns would even switch to housing level 3 - 30 percent more space in the pig fattening pens and outdoor exercise area - but the Wittmann family would have to invest a six-figure sum for this.
And for this she wants "planning security".
"Aldi, for example, only ever gives commitments for three years, we can't do much with that," Ludwig Wittmann annoys.
In addition, there are more and more requirements, official requirements and controls that are associated with more costs - the Wittmanns support all of this, even if they cannot understand everything.
Because they don't want to give up.
On the contrary: They want to invest and be able to live from the income from their work.
“We don't want any subsidies.
We prefer a reasonable price for our goods, ”says Wittmann.
The price for one kilo of pork is only 1.20 euros per kilo
The price for one kilo of pork is currently only 1.20 euros per kilo. “But we would need 1.70 euros. At the moment we are working practically for free, ”says Ludwig Wittmann, describing the situation. Nevertheless, the Wittmann family doesn't just want to continue, they want to get better. They feed high-quality and GMO-free feed, which mainly comes from the region. "Our animals are healthy, we take care of that," assure father and son in unison. "With sick animals we would also harm ourselves", says the 32-year-old agricultural master Michael Wittmann, who also ensures that his animals are transported a maximum of 100 kilometers until they are slaughtered.
According to a recent survey by “agrarheute”, around 80 percent of pig farmers are considering whether to continue at all or are already planning to quit.
And then probably more meat from other EU countries will end up on German plates.
“When you buy grilled meat in the supermarket today, it's mostly from Spain,” says pig farmer Ludwig Wittmann.
So - as always in the food sector - it depends on the purchasing behavior of consumers.
Simone Wester
