CDU on agriculture

The CDU wants to strengthen domestic farm production and relieve farmers of regulations and paperwork. Food production is to take priority over other land uses, and agriculture and the environment would again be handled by a single ministry.

The CDU wants to help farmers. They should have fewer rules and less office work. Fields should be used for food first. Cafeterias in public offices, daycare centers and schools should use more local food. The CDU is against a sugar tax.

All funding programs would be applied for through one central digital platform. The CDU wants to support organic and conventional farms alike, help the next generation take over farms and declares its commitment to livestock farming. Regional value chains are to be expanded. The party rejects new taxes such as a sugar tax; rules should be practical and uniform. Farming should remain economically viable in nature reserves as well.

The CDU wants to help agriculture adapt to climate change, for example through irrigation, adapted seed and modern technology. A research focus is to develop strategies against the reed glasswing cicada, a crop pest.

The climate is changing. There are more dry spells and storms. The CDU wants to help farmers deal with this. Fields should be watered better. An insect is harming beets and potatoes. The CDU wants research on how to fight it.

Support would go to climate-adapted seed, new growing methods, modern farm machinery and practical nature conservation. The CDU wants to remove hurdles for technologies such as drones in crop protection and precision farming. Irrigation associations are to grow, and rainwater would be collected by technical means for dry summers. According to the program, the cicada spreads diseases in sugar beets, potatoes and other crops; research, advisory services and farmers are to work closely together.

The CDU wants to preserve winegrowing through targeted support, research, new grape varieties and modern crop protection technology. Young winegrowers would get interest-free loans, and the subsidy for steep-slope vineyards would rise.

Many winegrowers have big problems. The CDU wants to help them. Young winegrowers should be able to borrow money without paying interest. Vineyards on steep slopes should get more money. The CDU is against bans on crop protection.

The program lists drought, heavy rain, costs, tariffs, weak demand and oversupply as burdens. Funding applications would go through one central platform, and reporting and record-keeping duties would be reviewed. A marketing campaign for wine and regional products is planned, along with support for direct sales and wine tourism. The CDU backs rotational fallow, including through a state program, and wants an EU cultural landscape program for vineyards. It rejects restrictions on marketing and drinking wine and what it sees as ideological bans on crop protection.

The CDU wants to repeal the state government's decree on covered-wagon and tractor tours with wine tastings and replace it with practical, legally sound rules. The platform says these tours are part of wine culture and an important source of income for many businesses. Winegrowing advisory centers are also to get more staff.

Wine regions offer wagon rides with wine tasting. The state government made strict rules for them. The CDU wants to remove these rules. There should be new and simpler rules. The CDU also wants more advice services for winegrowers.

The platform calls for scrapping the existing decree, which the CDU describes as overregulated. It would be replaced by rules that keep the tours responsible and economically viable. The Dienstleistungszentren Ländlicher Raum (rural service centers, DLR) would get more staff so that advice, training and research on winegrowing come from one source. The CDU also wants to implement the Agrargeoschutzgesetz quickly and fund the protection associations adequately.