According to the annual report from the German statistical office Destatis, the livestock population decreased by a few percent, with only the pig population remaining stable, while the economic value of the entire German agricultural sector showed a decline of 1 percent.
The German livestock population reached a historic low. The number of cattle fell by 3.5% compared to the previous year, to 10.5 million animals. Within this category, the number of dairy cows decreased by 3.3%, to 3.6 million. Over a period of ten years, the number of cattle dropped by 17.9%, amounting to a reduction of 2.3 million animals.
The sheep farming sector also experienced a reduction in size. The number of sheep decreased by 3.4% compared to the previous year, to 1.5 million animals. Compared to ten years ago, this is a decline of 5.9%.
The pig population remained relatively stable at 21.2 million animals, a slight decrease of 0.2% compared to the previous year. However, over the past ten years, there has been a significant decline of 25.2%, equaling a reduction of 7.2 million pigs. The number of pig-holding farms decreased by 41.7% over ten years, indicating a trend towards scaling up; the average number of pigs per farm rose from 1,100 to 1,400.
The Federal Information Center for Agriculture (BZL) estimates that the total agricultural production value for the past year was approximately 75.4 billion euros, a decrease of 1% (700 million euros) compared to 2023. This slight decline is mainly attributed to the lower plant production, which fell by 2% to 34.6 billion euros.
Agricultural products such as grain, oilseeds, and sugar beets saw significant drops in value due to unfavorable weather conditions and price decreases. Conversely, the value of protein-containing crops, potatoes, fresh vegetables, and fruit increased significantly.
Animal production experienced a slight increase in value to 36 billion euros, once again exceeding plant production. Although the production of slaughter animals increased, these gains were offset by falling producer prices. Raw milk was scarce, leading to higher milk prices and a rise in butter prices.