FDP on agriculture

The FDP wants farm policy to focus more on farmers as business owners. Productivity and innovation are to take priority over subsidies, and rules and record-keeping duties are to be cut.

The FDP sees farmers as business owners. They should need less money from the state. They should have less paperwork. New technology and new breeding methods should help.

Record-keeping duties and rules the FDP considers disproportionate are to be removed; farms using digital technology would be exempt from them. EU farm funding from 2027 should give more weight to productivity and technology. New breeding methods such as CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing are to be used, and approvals for pesticides sped up. Livestock farming in Germany is to be preserved. Funding for biogas plants is to be adjusted so their flexibility lowers electricity costs.

In food policy, the FDP relies on education, information and consumer choice. It rejects state rules on recipes and new levies, for example on sugar.

The FDP does not want a tax on sugar. The state should not tell companies how to make food. People should decide for themselves what they eat. They should get good information for this.

The approval system for novel foods is to be improved, including for biotechnological developments. Nutrition education programs are to be strengthened together with the states. Advertising for safe and healthy products is to remain permitted.