Grüne on agriculture

The Greens want organic farming to make up 30 percent of agriculture in Hesse by 2030. At the same time, all farming is to become more sustainable, including through less pesticide use and lower nutrient runoff.

The Greens want more organic farming in Hesse. By 2030 it should reach 30 percent. Other farms should also protect nature more. Farmers should use fewer chemical sprays.

Research, funding, and advisory services are to be geared toward the 30 percent goal, as are state-owned farms and land and the structures for processing and marketing. Support is planned for conventional breeding of climate-resilient seed, regenerative farming methods, and agroforestry. Hesse's pesticide reduction plan is to be developed further, and nitrogen and phosphate inputs are to fall. The EU's Common Agricultural Policy should focus more on climate protection, ecology, and the common good. Organic farming and climate adaptation are to be added to curricula, and an innovation center for agricultural system transformation is to be founded.

The Greens want to protect diverse farm ownership with an agricultural structure law and support people starting farms. Regional value chains are to be strengthened to counter the loss of farms.

The Greens want to keep small and varied farms. A new law should help with that. People who start a farm should get help and land. State canteens should buy more food from the region.

Alongside the agricultural structure law, the program plans funding and advice for start-ups and for social, solidarity-based, and public-interest forms of farming. The Hessische Landgesellschaft (the state land agency) is to hold and allocate more land for new farmers. Production, processing, and marketing within the region are to be strengthened through start-up and investment grants, among other things. Public institutions should use more regional and organic products, including goods from farms in conversion, and canteens are to get advice on making the switch. According to the program, this creates demand and fair prices.

The Greens want Hesse to remain free of genetically modified crops and of breeding or keeping genetically modified animals. This is meant to include new genetic engineering techniques in cultivation. Products containing GMOs are to be labeled.

The Greens want no genetic engineering on fields in Hesse. This also covers newer gene techniques. There should be no gene-modified farm animals either. Products must say so if they contain such ingredients.

The program justifies its position by saying that new genetic engineering methods have so far also caused new problems in agriculture. University research is to remain possible in the name of academic freedom, accompanied by dialogue between practitioners and researchers and a weighing of opportunities and risks. The Greens want to push for mandatory labeling at the federal level. At the state level, they plan initiatives such as producing GMO-free domestic protein feed.