As of: February 5, 2024, 1:00 p.m
By: Tom Otto
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The Bavarian Agriculture Minister Michaela Kaniber (CSU) and the chairman of the Bundestag's Agriculture Committee Karl Bär (B'90/Greens) - both standing in the middle of the picture - dared to enter the “pressure cauldron” of the BR TV program “Jetz red 'i“ in the Memmingen town hall.
The Lower Allgäu district administrator Alex Eder and the Memmingen mayor Jan Rothenbacher (seated on the left) also followed the discussion, which is important for their respective region.
© Tom Otto
The BR program “Now red' i” in Memmingen's town hall on January 31st was accompanied by farmers' protests.
Farmers ensured longer travel times.
Memmingen - The editorial team of the citizens' program “Now red' i” has a feel for current topics and places.
On January 31, 2024, the farmers' protests in Bavaria's most livestock-rich region prompted the town hall to be transformed into a television studio suitable for live broadcasts.
And in keeping with the theme of the show, as a visitor you first had to manage to be there on time for the start of the show.
BR program “Now red' i” in Memmingen: Agriculture Minister Kaniber there - farmers protests in front of the town hall
The farmers from the surrounding regions had blocked the access routes to Memmingen and the city center with their tractors and the support of tractors and trucks from the shipping company.
Later in the show, presenter Tilmann Schöberl talks about 400 to 500 “Bulldogs”.
Everything on Ulmer Straße and around the town hall was full of agricultural vehicles, the entire market square and several old town alleys mutated into tractor parking spaces.
The result was a journey time to the city center that was at least twice as long.
Inside the town hall, things were professionally busy.
A good hundred viewers managed to be there on time for the start of the broadcast.
The Bavarian Agriculture Minister Michaela Kaniber (CSU) and the chairman of the Bundestag's Agriculture Committee Karl Bär (B'90/Greens) were invited as experts.
The audience was mainly made up of people who earn their income in agriculture, livestock or forestry, food processing or production.
BR presenter Schöberl noted right at the beginning that there was “a lot of pressure in the kettle” and that a lot of anger and frustration had built up over the federal government’s agricultural policy.
BR program “Now red' i” in Memmingen: A lot of anger and frustration about the federal government's agricultural policy
The discussants from the audience immediately became more specific.
Gerhard Trunzer from Bad Grönenbach asked at the beginning whether a farmer should produce food as cheaply as possible for the world market or should he produce high-quality food.
The ever more demanding requirements from politicians made both increasingly difficult.
Farmer Julia Eble complained that after the mandatory contributions for health and nursing care insurance, retirement provision and reserves for investments, including those required by politicians, there was significantly less left than the minimum wage for all family members, including grandparents and children, on the farm.
Most viewers were not interested in tax advantages, higher prices, collective wages or reduced working hours;
They were primarily concerned with the long-term perspective for agriculture.
There were often calls for a realignment of the entire agricultural policy.
The ever-expanding bureaucracy is knocking down even the strongest farmer, stories from “Absurdistan” – the everyday jungle of regulations that no one understands anymore – were making the rounds.
BR citizens' program “Now talk to me” in Memmingen's town hall: “Morality ends at the shelf”
The market power of the oligarchically structured food trade and its consequences for food quality were also a point of contention.
Competitiveness and competition always come first through price.
With the old phrase “morality ends at the shelf,” consumers are ultimately blamed for the situation instead of the outdated structures that are not needs-oriented.
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Agriculture Minister Kaniber was bursting with energy and often had to be slowed down with her answers and statements.
She was good at the topic and often had examples to show that we in Bavaria, the CSU, are already doing a lot and more to prevent things from getting any worse.
As an example, she cited the Bavarian initiative recently introduced in the Federal Council for a reorganization of agricultural subsidies, which was intended to support small farmers, but which was rejected by the other actors.
The Green Party politician Karl Bär apparently had to collect himself after the speech before revealing his arguments and attitudes.
His answers were usually less specific, he had more of a big picture in mind.
It's not just the farmers who have to make their savings contribution; cuts have been made everywhere in the new budget.
This was largely negatively received by the audience, as they knew that it was only half the truth.
When it comes to arms deliveries to Ukraine and special “assets” for war capability, there was ultimately a political will to increase spending.
But agricultural expert Bär predicted that the situation in agriculture would be significantly different at the end of the decade and spoke of the huge areas in Ukraine that would then probably be in the EU.
The fact that the audience didn't feel much relief at the end was also due to the format of just 60 minutes of live broadcast for a subject area that was far too large and complex.
The hope that “the pressure in the boiler” with the shipment could have a pressure relief valve quickly disappeared when we left the town hall.
The tractors and their owners stood there with all their frustration, fear and anger, discussing the fact that agricultural policy was once again being made on their backs and their future.
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