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Farmers demonstrate against the current federal government.
© Christoph Schmidt/dpa/archive image
Farmers also protested for a long time with tractors in the southwest.
Now politicians and the agricultural industry have found their way to the table to exchange ideas.
This is an important step for those involved.
Stuttgart - Farmers all over Germany have been protesting against agricultural policy for weeks, and the sometimes violent disputes have also made waves in Baden-Württemberg.
The Greens in particular have repeatedly been the target of angry protests.
They are now increasingly seeking dialogue with those who recently drove against them with their tractors.
And they appeal for understanding: “We stand on the side of agriculture,” said Baden-Württemberg Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann on Tuesday at an exchange between the Greens and farmers from all over the country in Stuttgart.
However, the head of government also warned with regard to the protests: “At some point the anger has to go away.
Neither is fear a good guide, nor is anger,” he said.
“In the end you have to have a conversation and settle things as amicably as possible.”
At a meeting in the Baden-Württemberg state parliament that lasted more than two hours, the parliamentary group initially allowed farmers in particular to have their say.
The aim is to pool expectations of politicians and authorities.
“It is important to talk to each other more than about each other,” said Green Party leader Andreas Schwarz.
One thing that became clear during the conversation was that the dispute over agricultural diesel, which for many was actually the last spark before the protests, is by no means the most pressing problem for most farmers.
Not one of the more than 20 speakers in Stuttgart complained about the planned aid cuts.
The focus was rather on questions about the political framework conditions in Stuttgart, Berlin and Brussels.
Regulations in animal husbandry and excessive bureaucracy as well as hurdles in the direct marketing of products, the lack of public appreciation and a whole range of problems, some of which were very specific, were also addressed.
The meeting was organized by Green MPs Martina Braun and Martin Hahn, both farmers themselves.
“The farmers let off a lot of steam on the street,” said agricultural expert Hahn after the meeting.
“Now it was a matter of bringing the issues that had broken the camel’s back to the state parliament.” What is crucial is that the proposals do not stay there, but arrive at the right address.
Given the extent of the various problems on the farms, this is unlikely to be an easy task: an ostrich farmer from the Lake Constance region complained about restrictions on sausage packaging, and a strawberry grower called for extended picking times because of the summer heat in the fields.
In addition, difficulties caused by motorway construction on the edges of fields were discussed, as were problems in pig farming, dairy cattle and orchards.
The sprawling bureaucracy was mentioned again and again, most impressively by fruit farmer Dietmar Rist from Meckenbeuren (Bodenseekreis).
In order to register a seasonal worker from Romania or Poland, he complained, he had to fill out a total of 22 sheets of paper: an employment contract and a questionnaire on social security obligations, documentation of hygiene and occupational safety training as well as the cleaning plan for toilets in the unskilled workers' apartments and a few other forms more.
“When they arrive, the apples are usually already ripe and you should actually go out and explain how to harvest them.
But you have to sit in the office and fill out papers,” says Rist.
Many of the farmers' problems can only be solved by the federal government or the EU, others are more in the details.
“The last few years have been a financial catastrophe,” said pig farmer Rita Billich from Wutöschingen (Waldshut district), for example, in front of the parliamentary group and representatives of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and the European Commission.
In the worst months, her company had to accept a loss of 25 euros for every piglet sold.
“Which one of you in this room would be willing to go to work and pay money for it?” she asked.
“I often stood in the stable crying.” Her children didn’t want to take over the farm.
“And we are happy about it.” Given the lack of prospects, one in five pig farmers in the southwest have given up in the past five years.
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In recent months, farmers in Baden-Württemberg have protested across the country, primarily against plans by the federal government to tighten environmental regulations, eliminate subsidies and restrict the use of fertilizers.
On Ash Wednesday, a protest in Biberach an der Riß got so bad that the Greens canceled an event at short notice for security reasons.
dpa