As of: March 16, 2024, 1:00 p.m
By: Volker Camehn
Comments
Press
Split
Not an argument, but an exchange of ideas: That was important to district chairman Anton Stürzer and district farmer Sonja Dirl (r.).
© Volker Camehn
In Arget, district farmers discussed their worries and needs with politicians from the traffic light parties.
Sauerlach
– Better safe than sorry: Two police officers stood in front of the Schmuck inn in Arget for the two Green members of the state parliament, Claudia Köhler and Mia Goller.
You are considered “at risk,” says Goller.
And many a local association meeting had to be ended under police protection, says Claudia Köhler.
A worrying development.
Conny Huber-Danzer, a party friend from Oberhaching, also admitted that she would not have been entirely comfortable with the farmers' association's invitation to a “joint exchange”.
However, the concerns turned out to be completely unfounded - because more harmony is actually not possible.
Around 100 local politicians and farmers from the district accepted the invitation of the Bavarian Farmers' Association, Munich district association, to discuss.
An event to sensitize representatives of traffic light parties and the CSU “to the problems that our farmers face in our homeland,” as the invitation letter said.
Talk and let talk was the motto of the evening
The sensitization took place for almost three hours, which was successful from the host's point of view: District chairman Anton Stürzer from Höhenkirchen-Siegertsbrunn was pleased at the end of the lively and multi-faceted debate about the "great discussion", which was combative but free of any radicalism.
At the beginning he emphasized: “We are not right-wingers!” The motto of this evening was to talk and let people talk.
Not an argument, just an exchange of ideas, sometimes a change of perspective.
And yes, that became particularly clear here: the problems surrounding agriculture are diverse, sometimes confusing and complex.
Everything seems to be connected to everything else: the range of topics ranged from a lack of cooking skills to European agricultural policy, from land consumption, organic products, grain prices, direct marketing and the “high quality standard” (Faller) of Bavarian products.
It was about concerns and sensitivities (“Agriculture is being sold off in politics,” warned district farmer Sonja Dirl), about excessive bureaucracy and supposedly utopian guidelines: “30 percent organic farming by 2030 is nonsense,” emphasized Martin Stadler, Stürzer -Deputy from Aying.
That only works if you convince consumers about organic products.
However, so far the majority of them have gone to discounters.
And too much organic is nothing, they said, because then the prices for the products would fall.
The bureaucracy in general: “In 1980 there was only one application to be submitted – and that was for an agricultural diesel subsidy,” enthused district chairman Stürzer.
Today there are even detailed regulations on which days manure can be spread.
Ask what can be done at the local level
There is no question: the topic of “agriculture” is complex.
But what can be done at the local level, beyond debates about inheritance tax and world market prices, asked Taufkirchen FDP local councilor Maike Vatheuer-Seele.
Brunnthal's mayor Stefan Kern (CSU) confirmed that farmers were in competition with other projects, such as photovoltaic systems.
“If I were a Green, I would introduce a motorway toll instead of cutting agricultural diesel subsidies,” he teased.
It didn't work without party-political squabbles, while Claudia Köhler identified “a lot of common ground” with the farmers: green solidarity, landscape conservation and species protection.
District chairman accuses Federal Minister of Agriculture of incompetence
Speaking of politics: District chairman Anton Stürzer particularly accused Federal Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir (Greens) of incompetence and that politics was being carried out without the necessary technical know-how.
“Horst Seehofer was the best man in the position so far,” he said.
And he appealed to those present: “Give us the appreciation we need.” One thing is certain.