Click here to get the PDF

10 September 2007

Minister Horst Seehofer
Bundesministerium für Ernährung, Landwirtschaft und Verbraucherschutz
Wilhelmstraße 54
10117 Berlin
Germany

Dear Minister Seehofer,
We are writing to you regarding Germany’s Rural Development Programme (RDP) for 2007-2013. As you know, the EC’s Committee on Rural Development approved Germany’s national framework and the RDPs for Bayern, Brandenburg/Berlin, Hessen, Nordrhein-Westfalen and Sachsen on 24-25 July.

Food & Water Watch is a non-profit organization that works on a wide variety issues, including sustainable agriculture, rural economics, food safety and consumer protection.

We are concerned that these five RDPs overemphasize Axis 2 (environment and countryside) and Axis 3 (quality of life and diversification), and underemphasize Axis 1 (competitiveness of agriculture and forestry).

Here is a breakdown of the funding:

As you can see, with the exception Berlin/Brandenburg, Axis 2 and/or Axis 3 funding is greater than Axis 1 funding.

Bayern provides the best example of this disparity. Bayern hosts about one-third of all farms in Germany, nearly half of its territory is agricultural, and one in nine jobs depend directly or indirectly on agriculture.

Like many Länder, Bayern’s agriculture industry has experienced profound changes in recent years. Since 1975, the agricultural workforce has fallen by 60% and the number of farms has decreased by half. Since 1970, the Länd’s UAA has dropped from 53% to 46%.

With regard to specific agricultural products, the number of dairy farms fell by 70% from 1980 to 2005, while the total herd decreased by one-third. Concentration has had a dramatic effect on this industry. The number of dairy farmers with fewer than 20 cows fell from 147.000 in 1980 to 23.000 in 2005, while farms with more than 50 cows rose from 400 to 4000 during this period.

Concentration has also had a significant effect on the pig industry. Though the number of pig farmers fell from about 160.000 to 30.000 from 1980 to 2005, the number of pigs remained steady during this period.

For laying hens, the number of farmers fell from 150.000 in 1980 to 29.000 in 2005, while the number of hens fell from 7.2 million to 3.5 million during this period. Many farms with small herds have stopped raising hens altogether.

In the face of these trends, we are concerned that Axis 1 funding represents only 22% of rural development funding for Bayern from 2007-2013.

Like Bayern, about half of the territory of Hessen, Nordrhein-Westfalen and Sachsen is also agricultural. In Brandenburg, 85 percent of the land is agricultural. And also like Bayern, these Länder face serious challenges that require sizeable reinvestment in the agricultural sector:

• In Brandenburg, the number of people working in farming fell from 44,000 to 41,000 from 2000 to 2004. Yet, the Länd’s RDP includes €530 million for non-agricultural activities, microenterprises, tourism, rural heritage, and village renewal and development. Meanwhile, funding for vocational training, and developing new products and technologies in the agricultural sector totals just €22.5 million.
• In Sachsen, concentration has dramatically changed the dairy industry. From 1991 to 2006, the cow herd dropped from 310.000 to 190.000, while milk yield per cow doubled. The rural unemployment rate is 18% and the overall population is expected to drop by 11.5% by 2020. Yet, despite the fact that the Länd’s RDP states “farming structures and availability of land for holdings are mostly favorable,” Axis 1 funding represents the smallest of the three Axes.
• In Hessen, concentration has dramatically altered the agricultural landscape. From 1991 to 2005, the number of farms less than 20 ha fell by half, while the number of farms larger than 100 ha quadrupled. During this time, the total number of farms dropped by half while the average farm size doubled. Hessen’s RDP says the Länd has “non-sufficient organizational structures linked to agricultural production, processing and marketing.” Yet, more than half of the RDP is devoted to Axis 2 spending.
• In Nordrhein-Westfalen, the pig and dairy industries have experienced serious problems in recent years, yet more than half of the Länd’s RDP is devoted to Axis 2 spending.

Germany at large is also facing threats. Nationwide, the number of farms and the number of people working on farms dropped by 2.8% and 1.5% annually from 2003 to 2005. From 2004 to 2005, the production value and net value added of German farms dropped 3% and 7%, respectively. The German Federal Government Agriculture Report of 2006 states: “The economic situation of farms is expected to deteriorate slightly through the current 2005/06 business year.”

We are concerned that the other nine RDPs that still await approval from the Committee on Rural Development will also fund Axis 1 initiatives at disproportionately low levels. We need not state the importance that agriculture represents to Germany’s economic, social, rural and consumer well-being. We encourage you to increase Axis 1 funding in the five approved RDPs, and to ensure that the nine remaining programmes devote the bulk of funding to Axis 1 initiatives.

We thank you for the opportunity to provide input on these matters of great importance to all Germans.

Kind regards,
Mark Worth
Senior Researcher
mworth@fwwatch.org