Agriculture and the Energy Transition: Promoting Sustainability and Planning Security

“Nothing works without the farmers,” was the conclusion of the district’s second climate conference, which recently took place in the Freising district office. Examples were presented of how agriculture can come to terms with climate change and even make money from it. A dairy farmer described how he manages his farm in an energy self-sufficient manner; the job of climate economist, who cultivates peat soils sustainably, was presented. The politicians, who are now eagerly campaigning for climate protection, are being met with a call for planning security from the agricultural sector.

“We don’t want to rumble into anything and after two years it’s all over again,” said Ralf Huber, District President of the Bavarian Farmers’ Association in Upper Bavaria, characterizing politics in recent years. In view of climate change, agriculture is faced with the situation of continuing to produce enough food and at the same time contributing to the energy transition. Huber considers this balancing act to be quite possible, but points to the fickleness of politics. This initially promoted biogas plants, but soon demonized them, among other things, as competition for the production of food.

There was a consensus among the approximately 90 participants that farmers had been pioneers in the generation of renewable energies; they will continue to play a key role in the future. On the one hand they suffered in a special way from the changing climatic conditions, on the other hand they had land that could be used for the energy transition. This is how the press office of the district office summarizes the tenor of the climate conference.

The district therefore wants to promote the energy transition together with agriculture. To do this, however, investments for the companies would have to be profitable and reliable. The participants in the conference therefore agree with Huber that a clear course with planning and investment security is necessary in order to take the necessary path. But then with the reliability that has been practiced in agriculture in the food production sector for decades.

The call for simplifications in the admissibility of photovoltaic systems on land that is also used for agriculture, agri-PV systems, open-space photovoltaic systems and wind turbines is loud. For this reason, Environment Minister Thorsten Faithr announced that it was necessary to reduce six-year planning and construction times for wind turbines to three. According to information from the press office of the district office, this is also the conclusion from the working groups during the climate conference: the obstacles to expansion must be removed at all levels. More power grids, more systems for feeding clean electricity into the grid and less bureaucracy are needed.

Faithr said that climate protection had to start on your own doorstep. Many people agree that something must be done to combat climate change. But please not on your own doorstep. “On site, however, the popularity of wind turbines and open-space photovoltaic systems is different.”