Both German agricultural organisations and nature and environmental clubs reacted mostly positively to the final report of the ZKL Future Commission for a transition in German agriculture and livestock farming. This much-needed renewal can be paid for by increasing the VAT on food products.
The working group of authoritative experts last week came up with a more concrete elaboration of their previously presented proposals, this time including a recommendation for financing them. The now fallen German 'traffic light coalition' of SPD, Greens and FDP had asked for a financially sound plan after the coalition itself could not reach an agreement on its financing.
The ZKL Commission calls for a comprehensive reorganisation of the financing possibilities. The so-called Borchert2 Commission proposes to co-finance the renewal in the livestock farming with several billion euros, mainly intended for the renewal of stables in the dairy farming and pig farming. Only through larger and more spacious stables can the policy for improving animal welfare be achieved.
Until now, German political parties have differed on the question of how much the agricultural entrepreneurs themselves should pay, and how much the government should contribute. Moreover, the question is whether this government contribution should be paid via a higher income tax (=iedereen pays its share), or via a new 'meat tax' (=only meat eaters) or via an increase in VAT on food (=big eaters pay more).
The ZKL committee now advocates a phased increase in VAT on food, as the most logical additional source of income for a federal subsidy for the agri-transition. A combination with other sources of financing is not rejected.
Representatives of agriculture are pleased with the fact that the experts in the ZKL committee have once again arrived at a broadly supported advice. DBV vice-chairman Dr. Holger Hennies notes an important change among many farmers: “We have moved away from the 'against mode', we now want more reliability together.”
Up until now, agricultural policy has been divided between the federal government in Berlin and the state governments in the sixteen German states. These state governments have different political compositions. This is one of the reasons why agricultural policy in Germany is difficult and slow to develop.
The vice-chairman of the Bauernverband sees a role for the federal government in implementing the agricultural transition: it should not only set rules but also get involved in a concrete way, he said. The ZKL commission proposes to re-examine this division of tasks between Berlin and the federal states.
DBV CEO Hennies sees an increase in sales tax as a good way to redistribute money for animal welfare. But he does warn that the building law must first be adjusted: farmers and livestock farmers must know where they stand with their possible new construction or expansion plans. 'Companies need planning certainty for their investments.'
The German Nature Conservation Association sees the new agreement among the ZKL experts as an important signal: According to the NABU, it shows that "even after the emotional agricultural debates of the past months, differences of opinion can be overcome".
The ZKL Commission emphasises even more than in the previous 2021 advice to align with European legislation, both with the Common Agricultural Policy and with the climate and environmental rules from the Green Deal. The new EU rules for modern business should also be included in the new German policy.
Political reactions to the final report were mixed. Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir (Greens) praised the Future Commission as an “important forum for a fair weighing of interests,” but also admitted that he “would have preferred to take more concrete steps himself than was possible in the previous government formation.” Lower Saxony’s Agriculture Minister Miriam Staudte (Greens) particularly emphasized the ZKL proposals for a far-reaching reform of the fertilizer law.
Liberal FDP politicians see the recommendations primarily as a confirmation of their market economy approach. FDP members again reject the way in which 'small-scale regulations should be compensated for by subsidies' as CDU agricultural ministers have long tried to do with farmers.
The SPD is known to prefer to pay for agri-subsidies from general funds (income tax), while the Greens prefer to look for 'target levies' such as a meat tax or higher VAT on food.
In the upcoming election campaign, the position of the CDU/CSU could be decisive: the opposition party is high in the opinion polls and will almost certainly enter a new German coalition government after February 23. Their party leader Friedrich Mertz has not yet expressed a preference for how the money for the billions in subsidies should be raised.