As of: February 18, 2024, 5:15 a.m
By: Amy Walker
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In Germany, 60 percent of agricultural land is leased land.
New laws are intended to put an end to this trend.
But there may be a conflict of interest in the farmers' association.
Berlin - Things are simmering in agriculture, but not just since the government's controversial step to gradually reduce subsidies for agricultural diesel.
This was perhaps the final straw;
But farmers have been dissatisfied with their situation for a long time.
There are many problems - one of them is that the land that farmers cultivate increasingly no longer belongs to them.
Politicians want to do something about it - but are being thwarted by a powerful opponent.
60 percent of the land area is now leased land
On a national average, 60 percent of agricultural land is now leased land.
This means that farmers often do not own the land on which they live.
Instead, they have to spend an increasing proportion of their earnings on rent.
As the Federal Information Center for Agriculture describes, the rental price per hectare of land rose by over 60 percent between 2010 and 2020, from 204 to 329 euros.
The purchase prices for these areas rose even more, by 120 percent from 11,800 euros per hectare to 26,700 euros.
How this could happen is explained quite simply.
“Between seven and ten farms die every day.
And if they give up, then they usually don’t sell the land,” explains Anne Neuber, managing director of the Working Group for Rural Agriculture (AbL) Central Germany in an interview with
Ippen.Media.
Instead, farmers would sell the business, the machines, the farm buildings and the animals.
But the land itself is kept - and leased to the next person.
“For private owners with no connection to agriculture, there is a risk that they will decide based solely on price and lease the land to the highest bidder,” Neuber continued.
This is not meant to be a reproach, emphasizes the managing director, after all, some people simply act out of ignorance or for personal reasons.
But it leads to problems.
If you have a lot of money, you can lease a lot of space.
Investors and large companies have a lot of money and are grabbing more and more land.
According to Anne Neuber, the ownership structure is not known exactly.
The land register might then name an agricultural cooperative as the owner - but you can't tell from this that the Aldi Foundation, for example, is largely behind it.
“That’s why we support the planned agricultural structure laws, because they would allow numbers to be recorded,” said the expert.
According to an estimate from 2017, a good 34 percent of agricultural land in eastern Germany actually belongs to large companies and non-agricultural investors.
This proportion is unlikely to have decreased in the past seven years.
Laws would disclose ownership relationships
The AbL has been fighting for legislation that would stop this practice for years.
Since land law is a state matter, the battle must be fought individually in all 16 federal states.
Such agricultural structure laws are currently being discussed in the East German states of Saxony, Brandenburg and Thuringia; there are also drafts that essentially only need to be approved by the cabinets and parliaments.
But this is exactly where there is a problem.
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The agricultural structure laws in all three countries have an important core: Anyone who wants to lease or buy agricultural land in the future can only do so under certain conditions.
In the future, companies in Saxony will not be allowed to own more than 2,500 hectares of land; in Brandenburg, the cap should be 2,600 hectares.
There should also be requirements that would promote young talent in agriculture, as young farmers are finding it increasingly difficult to find land on which they can build their business.
Farmers' association rejects the agricultural laws
But the farmers' association rejects these laws.
In all three eastern German states where the laws are currently on the table, they are being fought by the local associations.
And as long as the farmers' association rejects the draft, the CDU will not wave it through.
But in all three countries things don't work without this party.
How controversial the debate has become was evident at the beginning of the year at a hearing on the Agricultural Structure Act in Saxony.
The AbL had invited people to a demonstration in front of the Ministry of Agriculture to promote the law.
As the
MDR
reports, some farmers also spoke directly in favor of the law at the hearing.
Organic farmer Patrick Rückert is quoted: “There is an opportunity to preserve diverse agriculture because access to valuable land is made more difficult for non-agricultural investors.”
Land prices in agriculture have exploded.
© Julian Stratenschulte/dpa
The Association of Family Farms and Forestry justified their rejection by saying they feared a “bureaucratic monster”.
According to the broadcaster, Marco Birnstengl from the “Land Creates Connection” association spoke out clearly against the upper limit of 2,500 hectares: “This upper limit is arbitrary.
In addition, there are no upper limits for companies in other industries, see the industry giants Lidl or VW.”
From the perspective of the Saxony State Farmers' Association, the law would prevent agricultural businesses from buying up neighboring farms, which is sometimes desirable.
They don't want to see the authority at the negotiating table making these decisions.
In addition, the constitutionality of the law is questioned because these laws interfere with property rights.
Large companies pay higher contributions to the farmers' association
But there could also be another reason why the farmers' associations are positioning themselves against the agricultural structure laws.
After all, it is precisely these large companies that are represented by the associations - and they also pay significantly higher membership fees.
Membership fees are usually based on hectares of land owned by the company.
So: the more area you have, the higher the contributions.
One can only speculate as to whether this will mean more influence on the association's positions.
But there is at least a conflict of interest.
For supporters of the agricultural structure laws, the whole discussion is grueling - and time is of the essence.
There are elections this year in Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg, so if the laws are to pass, then it has to happen by summer.
And if it doesn't work?
This question is followed by a long pause for Anne Neuber, then a deep sigh.
“Yeah, then let’s keep going until we make it eventually.
The only question is how much agricultural land has been irreversibly lost to non-agricultural land by then.”