The federal and state agricultural ministers often had a dispute with one another this year. Saxony’s head of department draws a critical résumé of the last Agriculture Ministers’ Conference under his chairmanship.
Saxony’s Agriculture Minister Wolfram Günther (Greens), as head of the Conference of Agriculture Ministers (AMK), accused the Federal Ministry of numerous failures.
On the sidelines of the AMK autumn conference in Dresden, Günter summed up his term of office: “We could and should be much further. In Berlin, attempts have been made to postpone important and inevitable decisions until after the federal election or to sit them out completely, ”said Günther of the German Press Agency. Fortunately, that didn’t work out. “This is also thanks to the spirit of cooperation between the countries, despite all the political differences that exist here.”
The house of Federal Agriculture Minister Julia Klöckner (CDU) had “reliably not done its homework,” emphasized Günther. As evidence, he cited the reorientation of EU agricultural funding, animal welfare and the implementation of appointments from the so-called Borchert Commission – a competence network for livestock husbandry. “Farmers have long known that they are facing an enormous task of transformation. You do not want to be protected from change, but to be supported on this path. The Federal Minister of Agriculture is doing the industry a disservice if she repeatedly hits the brakes. “
Positive conclusion for 2021
Günther expressed the hope of moving faster and more constructively with a new federal government. His conclusion for 2021 was positive overall. «We managed to get started with the switch this year. We negotiated hard for this, sometimes in night-long special sessions. The resistance came primarily from one direction: from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, ”he said, referring to the national strategic plan for EU agricultural support. With the realignment of agricultural subsidies, one fulfills several tasks at the same time – one social, one political and one ecological.
“We currently have an agricultural system that nobody is happy with. Not consumers, not agriculture and not those who advocate more environmental protection, climate protection, protection of biodiversity and animal welfare, ”said Günther. In the future, around half of the agricultural subsidies for the farms will be linked to their contributions to ecology and the common good: “That is the real success of this chairmanship.” The new funding period is one of the transition. «In everything we have negotiated this year and are currently continuing to negotiate in Dresden, we keep an eye on the farmers’ incomes. Because without efficient companies we will not make progress in our transformation task. “
Swine fever is said to be a topic of the current AMK. Here, too, Günther sees Klöckner’s actions critically: “Ms. Klöckner recently invited to a pig summit, which, of all places, did not include Saxony, Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. We are the bulwark against African swine fever. To make a summit on the topic without us is absurd. “
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
