AfD on agriculture

The AfD wants to improve conditions for family farms so that farmers can live on their income and invest. Requirements from the EU, the federal government and the state are to be rolled back. The party wants to support regional marketing and farm shops.

Farmers should be able to live well from their work. The AfD wants fewer rules for farmers. That applies to rules from the EU, the federal government and the state. Farmers should decide more for themselves. The AfD wants to support farm shops and regional sales.

Farmers are to get more freedom to decide, and their profession is to become more attractive. Livestock farms are to be politically secured because, in the party's view, they stabilize the food supply. Regional producer and marketing companies as well as mid-sized dairies and slaughterhouses are to be expanded. Decision-making powers are to move from the EU back to the federal, state and local levels; the AfD rejects the relevant EU regulations.

The AfD wants to slow the loss of farmland and make land purchases by investors harder. Restrictions on selling agricultural land should also cover purchases of company shares. It rejects rezoning fields as nature conservation offset areas.

The AfD wants to keep farmland for farmers. Big investors should not be able to buy farmland so easily. This should also apply when they buy shares in companies. Fields should not become nature reserves just because something is built elsewhere.

Instead of using up new land, existing residential and commercial areas are to be carefully densified and industrial wasteland reused. The AfD sees land purchases by international investors, especially through tax-free share deals, as a disadvantage for farmers. It criticizes the draft state spatial planning program for dropping the protection of areas reserved for agriculture. Land could then be permanently lost to farming after being used for photovoltaics.

The AfD wants a high level of food self-sufficiency and wants farmland used mainly to produce food. The requirement to set aside four percent of farmland should be dropped immediately. It rejects shifting EU farm money away from direct payments.

The AfD wants Germany to grow more of its own food. Fields should mainly be used for food. EU rules make farmers leave 4 percent of their land unused. The AfD wants to end this rule right away. Farmers should keep getting their EU money directly.

According to the platform, German farms now feed just under half of the population. The AfD argues that less intensive farming and loss of land lead to more imports and higher prices, including in poorer countries. The party rejects further imports from the Mercosur countries, especially where they do not meet European quality standards. The four percent set-aside in the Common Agricultural Policy period starting in 2023 should be reversed. No more money should move from the first to the second pillar of EU farm funding, and changes already made should be undone. The AfD sees direct payments as compensation for rules and higher costs, not as a subsidy.

The AfD wants to change the tightened fertilizer rules immediately so that crops can be fertilized according to their needs. The boundaries of nitrate-polluted areas and the network of monitoring sites should be redesigned.

The AfD wants to change the strict rules on fertilizer. Farmers should be able to give plants as much fertilizer as the plants need. The state should measure nitrate in groundwater more exactly. Nitrate is a substance that can get from fertilizer into water.

The platform criticizes the rule that crops in certain areas may receive 20 percent fewer nutrients than they need, and expects much smaller harvests as a result. Because fertilizer is scarce due to sanctions and war, the rules should be adjusted right away. The so-called red areas should be drawn more finely, using current regional readings. The monitoring network should be representative and show who causes pollution, since the AfD says farming is not the only source. The party regards the current requirements as the result of unrepresentative reports sent to the EU.

The AfD wants to prop up pork prices with state aid for storage and to introduce an origin label. Dairy farms should get relief on costs, and small dairies should be protected from market concentration.

The AfD wants to help farmers with pigs and cows. The state should pay for storing pork. This should stop the price from falling further. Labels should show if the meat comes fully from Germany. Small dairies should stay in business.

The platform cites the price collapse after Covid and African swine fever as the reason; the stored meat would also serve as a reserve for emergencies. A "5D" label would show that birth, rearing, fattening, slaughter and processing all took place in Germany. Dairy farmers should keep receiving compensation for restrictions in protected areas and get money for animal welfare measures. Because seven dairies take in about 90 percent of the milk in Lower Saxony, the AfD wants to prevent a monopoly. To that end, the EU directive on unfair trading practices (UTP) should be put into law at once, with tough consequences for food retailers.