“Developing a Viable Concept for Animal Husbandry Conversion and Welfare: A Special Conference of Agricultural Ministers in Germany”

The decline in agricultural livestock farming in Baden-Württemberg and Germany was discussed at the special conference of agricultural ministers. The agriculture ministers considered it imperative to develop a viable overall concept for converting animal husbandry towards greater animal welfare.

“The already tense situation of livestock farms is currently being exacerbated by a lack of planning security when it comes to the conversion of livestock husbandry that is required at the same time. We have to face a structural break in the animal husbandry counteract in Germany. For this we need a fair and practicable overall concept in order to offer as many farms as possible a sustainable basis for aligning animal husbandry with more animal welfare. Without such an overall concept of animal husbandry labeling, long-term financing and adjustments to immission control and building law, a conversion of animal husbandry and a switch to higher forms of husbandry will come to nothing,” said Peter Hauk, Minister of Agriculture in Baden-Württemberg and spokesman for the CDU Ministers of Agriculture in Germany , on May 5, 2023 on the occasion of Special conference of agricultural ministers in Berlin.

At the special conference of agricultural ministers, Baden-Württemberg’s Minister of Agriculture, Peter Hauk, looked with great concern at the accelerating decline in agricultural livestock farming in Germany and Baden-Württemberg. The agriculture ministers considered it imperative to develop a viable overall concept for converting animal husbandry towards greater animal welfare. It is essential to open up future prospects for animal owners in a changing market. “To do this, however, we also need secure and reliable funding as well as long-term financing. Our goal must be to enable animal husbandry and not to abolish it. The federal government must finally die Recommendations of the Borchert Commission implement. We need a clear signal for animal husbandry and our farms,” ​​said Minister Peter Hauk.

Around 300 pig farms gave up

The lack of planning security is currently presenting many agricultural livestock farmers with major challenges and is causing more and more companies to abandon animal husbandry, especially pig husbandry. In Baden-Württemberg alone, around 300 pig-keeping farms gave up in 2022. Not even 40 percent of Baden-Württemberg’s citizens can consume pork from Baden-Württemberg. “The overall package must take into account the entire pig farm, other farmed livestock species and all marketing channels and processed products. We also urgently need simplifications in the approval process for the necessary structural measures to adapt the stables. The aim must be to offer as many farms as possible a sustainable basis, to keep animals and to pursue a stronger focus on animal welfare,” said Minister Peter Hauk.

When implementing the Animal Husbandry Labeling Act, the ministers attached particular importance to a high level of consumer transparency. “At the risk of the production and processing of food of animal origin being relocated abroad due to the Animal Husbandry Labeling Act We have expressly informed the federal government about the voluntary labeling for foreign goods contained in this,” emphasized Minister Peter Hauk. Despite the difficult economic situation, the farms in Germany are ready to accept the upcoming challenges of converting livestock farming in Germany and to convert their animal husbandry in a sustainable and socially acceptable way. The federal states would have to be closely involved in the further development of the overall concept.

Funding options for the federal states must be retained

“We have asked the federal government to give livestock farms a long-term perspective in a timely manner and thus legal and financial planning security. It is also necessary that, even with federal funding, the states are given the opportunity to set their own agricultural structural priorities. Current and planned measures by the federal states must not be excluded by the federal program. In addition, there must not be an exit from the agricultural investment promotion in the joint task and also not to cuts in funds in the Joint Task for Agricultural Structures and Coastal Protection (GAK) come. Funding options for the federal states must be retained, especially for small farms and for tailor-made and targeted funding of agricultural structures,” said Minister Peter Hauk.

As part of the special conference of agricultural ministers and in connection with livestock farming in Germany, the regulations for the possible use of emission privileges according to the Technical instructions for keeping the air clean (TA Luft). The TA Luft specifies protection and precautionary requirements for animal husbandry facilities that require approval under immission control law. In connection with the TA Luft, approval problems often arise for all construction projects, including animal welfare stalls and stalls for organic production. “We need practicable and economically viable solutions for all livestock farms. Immission control requirements that stand in the way of animal welfare-friendly conversion of agricultural animal husbandry must be adjusted in order to remove obstacles to conversion. In addition, the federal government should specify the regulations of the TA Luft in such a way that after the implementation of animal welfare measures, an unavoidable increase in emissions must be taken into account when assessing the protection requirements,” said Minister Peter Hauk.