FDP on agriculture

The FDP wants to continue the "Future of Agriculture" dialogue and set up an Enquete-Kommission (parliamentary inquiry commission) on agriculture in the state parliament. The results of the dialogue are to guide farm policy, and practitioners are to check draft regulations for workability in advance.

The FDP wants to keep talking with farmers. The state parliament should set up a special commission on farming. It is a working group of lawmakers and experts. Farmers should check new rules before they start. They should say whether the rules work in daily life.

The "Future of Agriculture" dialogue is to be kept, and the positions worked out jointly there are to be put into practice. In addition, the FDP calls for an inquiry commission in the state parliament so that lawmakers stay part of the conversation. Experience from farms is to serve as a reality check: farmers should review draft regulations for workability more closely before they take effect. Overall, the party wants to involve agriculture more in political decisions.

The FDP wants to waive fees for farm building applications that improve sustainability and animal welfare and tie them to fixed processing deadlines. Once the deadline passes, the application is to count as approved. The platform argues that long and costly permit procedures hold back investment.

Farmers often want to build better barns for their animals. The applications take a long time and cost a lot. The FDP wants these applications to be free. The office should answer within a fixed time. If it does not answer in time, the building counts as allowed.

According to the platform, farmers sometimes wait years for permits, and applying can cost several thousand euros. Applications for animal-welfare barns are therefore to be free of charge and come with a guaranteed response time; after the deadline, approval is deemed granted. Building law is also to be simplified for expanding and modernizing farms. The FDP wants to resolve conflicts between animal welfare and emissions-control rules in building law. A neutral "clearing office" is to review rejected applications for a small fee. The party also backs clear labeling of husbandry methods and origin and wants to strengthen consumer education.

The FDP wants to safeguard pasture-based livestock farming, designate wolf-free regions and introduce regionally differentiated population management. Geese and cormorants are also to be managed effectively to prevent damage to farming. A premium for grazing animals is planned as well.

Many farmers keep animals out on pasture. The FDP wants to protect this. Some regions should have no wolves. Hunters should be allowed to shoot more geese, because geese eat the crops. Farmers with grazing animals should get a payment.

Wolf-free regions are to be defined along the lines of the go and no-go areas used for wild geese, with regionally varied population management built on that. Because of crop damage caused by geese, the FDP wants to adjust goose hunting deliberately to help farmers prevent losses. Management is also planned for cormorants. Keepers of grazing animals are to receive a new premium. The party also wants to expand on-pasture slaughter and the use of mobile slaughter units to cut down on stressful trips to the slaughterhouse.

The FDP wants to reduce red tape and record-keeping duties in agriculture and push for a moratorium on new requirements. Federal or state rules that are stricter than EU single-market rules are to be dropped so farms compete on equal terms. Farms are to be given time to adapt to new environmental and animal-welfare demands.

Farmers have to follow many rules and write a lot down. The FDP wants to reduce this. For a while, no new requirements should be added. German rules should not be stricter than EU rules. That way farmers get the same chances as farmers in other countries.

The plans include cutting bureaucratic hurdles, fewer record-keeping duties and a moratorium on new requirements. The FDP wants to scrap federal and state provisions that go beyond EU single-market law, arguing this ensures equal conditions in competition. Digitalization and technical progress are meant to help reduce paperwork. Conventional and organic farming are not to be played off against each other. The platform promises to support farms during the shift toward more environmentally friendly farming and animal welfare and to secure their survival.

The FDP wants to scrap the right of first refusal for nature conservation, which lets public bodies step in first when certain land is sold. Instead it relies on cooperative contract-based conservation programs and a dialogue on land swaps between farmers and the Stiftung Naturschutz (state nature conservation foundation).

Today the state may buy some land first to protect nature. This is called a right of first refusal. The FDP wants to end this right. Farmers should instead sign voluntary contracts to protect nature. Farmers and the nature foundation should talk about swapping land.

The right of first refusal in favor of nature conservation is to be dropped. The FDP wants to continue cooperative contract-based conservation programs, in which farmers voluntarily agree to conservation measures, as well as the Allianz Gewässerschutz (water protection alliance). A dialogue on land swaps between agriculture and the Stiftung Naturschutz is to be started.

The FDP wants more support for research and new technology in agriculture, including green genetic engineering, climate-friendly crop protection and lower-emission livestock housing. Young farmers, farm successors and start-ups in the farm sector are also to get more help.

The FDP wants more research for farming. This includes green genetic engineering. That means scientists change the genes of plants. Barns with fewer emissions should be studied too. Young farmers and new farm businesses should get more help and advice.

At the federal level, the party wants to advance research on green genetic engineering and support research on climate-friendly crop protection products. Funding is to be provided for emission-reducing husbandry techniques, and EU money such as the European Innovation Partnership is to be used more for future technologies. Part of the funding is to offer small, easy-to-access grants for short trial phases of new ideas. Support programs are to be designed so that young farmers and successors benefit; start-up advice and the Landwirtschaftskammer (chamber of agriculture), with its research and advisory work, are to be expanded. An image campaign to attract skilled workers and support for building up humus as a contribution to climate protection are also planned.

The FDP wants to support commercial fishing with a one-time investment fund and financial compensation for lost fishing grounds. For anglers, the platform provides for more personal responsibility and fewer restrictions. In the party's view, Schleswig-Holstein should lead the way in fishing that is both sustainable and economically viable.

The FDP wants to help fishers. They should get money for newer boats and gear. If fishing areas are lost, fishers should be paid for it. Anglers should be able to decide more for themselves. Fishing at night should stay allowed.

Fishing grounds may only be lost to construction or environmental zones if fishers are paid for it; at the federal level the FDP wants to allow pot and trap fishing inside offshore wind farms. Also planned are stricter certification of fish sold, research into alternative fishing methods and a higher minimum size for Baltic cod in commercial fishing of 40 instead of 35 centimeters. The fishing levy is to be reviewed and used only for angling purposes. The cormorant is to be placed under hunting law and eel mortality reduced. For anglers, the party does not want to restrict night fishing, wants to allow electric motors statewide, introduce a size window for keeping some species, and let minors fish without a license when accompanied by a qualified parent or guardian.