CDU on agriculture

The CDU wants farming in North Rhine-Westphalia to remain worthwhile and relies on fair competition within the EU. The rules of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) are to be implemented without national add-ons. Farmers are also to get relief on taxes and paperwork.

Farmers should earn enough money. The CDU wants to apply the EU farm rules exactly as they are. There should be no stricter rules just for Germany. Farmers should pay less tax when they buy land. They should also have fewer forms and records to fill in.

The party wants to abolish the double real estate transfer tax that farmers face when buying land. Application and record-keeping duties are to be reduced further. For the EU's first-pillar direct payments, the CDU wants them to keep including basic premiums that support farm incomes. Farmers are to be supported as entrepreneurs in building new lines of business; the party wants to avoid structural breaks and offer planning and investment security.

The CDU wants farmers to be able to earn money from services for nature and the climate. Additional environmental services are to be compensated financially, and restrictions on farming should never come without compensation. The party relies on voluntary action and incentives rather than mandates.

Farmers do things for nature and the climate. They should get money for that. The CDU wants no new rules without compensation. It relies on voluntary offers and rewards. The federal government should pay money it has promised.

The CDU calls on the federal government to pay the funds already promised as hardship compensation for farmers in nature reserves. Because humus stores CO2, practical and verifiable methods for carbon storage and carbon farming are to be developed and funded. Agri-environmental measures are to remain voluntary and receive enough money in the new CAP funding period.

The CDU wants to use digital technology and new technologies in agriculture. New breeding methods are meant to make plants more resilient and, in the party's view, serve the environment, the climate, food security and biodiversity.

The CDU wants farmers to use modern technology. This includes new methods of plant breeding. They should make plants more robust. That should help the environment and the climate. Rural areas should get fast internet everywhere.

The platform names new breeding methods as a way to get more robust plants and sees benefits for environmental and climate protection as well as for the food supply. For digital farming, broadband is to be expanded quickly and everywhere, with mobile coverage of at least 4G. Agriculture is to be supported as a modern industry with a focus on climate protection.

The CDU wants to speed up the shift toward better animal welfare in livestock farming while taking the effects on farms into account. Producers are to be reimbursed for the higher costs through state support and compensation payments, with a moderate share passed on to consumers.

Farm animals should have better lives. That costs farmers more money. The state should help farmers with this. Prices in stores should also rise a little. Meat labels should show where it comes from and how the animal lived.

For funding, the platform names state-backed investment support plus compensation for the costlier production; part is to be carried moderately through consumer prices. So that barn conversions can be planned faster, the CDU wants to adjust and align rules in environmental, emissions, building and planning law. It also backs a mandatory Europe-wide label showing origin and husbandry conditions, which is also meant to help with marketing.