CDU on agriculture

The CDU wants to develop a “social contract for agriculture” and base farm policy on incentives and planning certainty. Farmers are to receive support while being relieved of rules the platform describes as impractical and bureaucratic. The platform names securing the population's food supply as the most important goal.

The CDU wants farmers and society to agree on firm goals for farming. Farmers should get money for good work. There should be less paperwork. Farmers should be able to plan far ahead.

Services that farmers and foresters provide for the common good are to be paid fairly, and climate measures should show up in their income. A task force is to review state rules for unnecessary bureaucracy and obstacles to production; regulations are to undergo a practice check. Funding programs are to be handled by one central office. The CDU seeks a moratorium on changes at permitting authorities so that investments remain plannable over their depreciation period. It also plans a “Zukunftsdialog Landwirtschaft” (dialogue on the future of farming), more contract-based conservation, and more money for the federal rural development program.

The CDU wants the set-aside of four percent of arable land required under EU farm policy to be permanently suspended from 2023. It argues that supplying people with food takes priority in the current situation.

The EU says farmers must leave part of their fields unused. They get no money for this. The CDU wants to stop this rule for good. It says making enough food is more important right now.

The rule requires four percent of arable land to be taken out of production without compensation. The CDU points to the war in Ukraine, which according to the platform affects 30 percent of global wheat trade and drives up food prices. From this it concludes that structural dependencies should be examined and the potential of regional farming put to use.

The CDU commits to livestock farming and wants to implement the Borchert Commission's recommendations for better animal welfare. The extra costs are to be covered by a permanent, mandatory animal welfare levy and by investment aid. A federal animal welfare law is meant to give farms reliable planning.

The CDU wants animals in barns to live better. That costs farmers more money. So there should be an animal welfare levy. That is a fixed payment that is required. Farmers should also get money to rebuild their barns.

The basis is to be a social contract for rural areas that builds on the findings of the expert network on livestock farming. A federal law is to regulate building, conservation and labeling law together with animal welfare requirements. Building law is to be changed so that animal welfare takes priority and conflicts with emissions rules are resolved. A pilot project called “Stall der Zukunft” (barn of the future) is to develop practical and affordable solutions. The platform points in particular to the difficult situation of pig farmers.

The CDU wants to introduce a Lower Saxony label that bindingly marks how animals were kept and where regional products come from. Animal transports are to be kept short, regional slaughterhouses supported, and more regional food used in public cafeterias.

The CDU wants a label for food from Lower Saxony. It shows where a product comes from and how the animals lived. Animals should only travel short distances to the slaughterhouse. Public and school cafeterias should serve more food from the region.

Regional slaughterhouses are to receive support and new ones are to be encouraged so that animal transport routes stay short. Pasture-based livestock farming is to be expanded and permanently funded. In public cafeterias and dining halls, including those at educational institutions, the share of regional food is to rise.

The CDU wants to keep strengthening organic farming because, in its view, it can advance nature and species conservation. Organic farms are to be given separate consideration in funding programs, and advice on converting to organic is to be expanded.

The CDU wants to keep supporting organic farmers. Organic farms should get their own funding. Farmers who want to switch to organic should get more advice. One university should get a professor for organic farming.

Organic farms are to be considered separately in sector-specific programs, for example for investments in barns, storage or advisory services. As a first step, the CDU wants to hire five state-funded advisers at the organizations that advise on conversion. Funding for non-investment organic projects is to be kept and increased. Entry into organic farming is to remain subsidized, and a professorship for organic farming is to be created.

The CDU wants new plant breeding methods to be approved and agricultural research at universities to be strengthened. According to the platform, farming should be based on scientific findings and share in technical progress. This also includes digitalizing farms and the administration.

The CDU wants to allow new ways of breeding plants. Research on farming should get more support. Advisers should help farmers with digital technology. Government offices should share data digitally.

Agricultural research and teaching are to be strengthened, also with a view to food supply at home and worldwide. A “Smart-Farming-Berater” (smart farming adviser) program is to help farms digitalize and buy the relevant technology. A digital agricultural administration is to speed up data exchange between authorities. For rural areas, the CDU plans a package of measures and funding called “Stadt.Land.ZUKUNFT”.

The CDU wants to prevent fields and meadows from becoming objects of speculation and to change land law accordingly. Land is to remain available to family farms and forestry businesses. At the same time, the platform affirms private ownership of land.

Some people buy farmland only to make money from it. The CDU wants to stop that. It wants to change the laws on land for this. Family farms should be able to keep their land. Forest owners should also get more support.

According to the platform, farmland is shrinking because of infrastructure, new housing areas, onshore wind power and compensation measures. Family farms are to be supported and preserved. Unused farm or commercial buildings are to be put to new uses without red tape. Forest owners are to get broader sources of income, including payment for the ecosystem services forests provide. The CDU backs a practice-oriented forest strategy that allows active management.

The CDU wants to keep fishing in Lower Saxony competitive and sustainable at the same time. To that end, it plans to secure fishing grounds, protect fish stocks from predators, and preserve training and research facilities.

The CDU wants to help fishers in Lower Saxony. They should keep enough places to fish. Fish should be better protected from animals that eat them. People who fish as a hobby should get support too.

The program calls for taking the fishing sector's space needs into account when weighing them against other uses, and for preserving fishing grounds in river estuaries for small coastal fishers. For deep-sea fishing, catch quotas and fishing grounds in the North Sea and Atlantic are to be secured permanently with EU support. Fish stocks are to be protected from otters, herons, and cormorants; on cormorants, the CDU also seeks a Europe-wide solution. The vocational school for inland fishing in Hannover, the maritime school in Cuxhaven, and research institutions are to be kept or expanded. The party wants to push back against restrictions on angling rights that it considers excessive.