Grüne on agriculture

The Greens want to keep fishing in the North Sea and Baltic Sea while protecting sensitive marine areas. This includes a rapid exit from bottom trawling, stricter rules for gillnets, and subsidies geared toward ecological use of the sea.

Fishing is part of Schleswig-Holstein. The Greens want to make it better for the environment. Nets that are dragged over the sea floor should soon be banned. Fishers should get help with the change. Nobody should target endangered fish.

Regional fishing businesses are to receive support for the transition and for building alternatives such as environmentally friendly tourism offers. Catch quotas are to follow international research findings. Together with Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and the federal government, the state is to develop prospects for the fishing sector in case catch limits stay severely restricted for a long time. Endangered species may not be deliberately fished commercially or by anglers. The aquaculture strategy is to be updated and guided by animal welfare, feed, energy, and water and marine protection.

The Greens want an agricultural transition toward climate-neutral farming that gives farms a lasting future. Public farm funding is to be based on the ecological and social services farms provide. Rules for markets are meant to make fair producer prices possible.

The Greens want to change farming. It should not harm the climate or nature. Farms should get public money for what they do for nature and society. Farmers should get fair prices.

The party wants to push for this reform of farm policy at the state, federal and EU levels. The eco-schemes of the new Common Agricultural Policy are to strengthen, not disadvantage, organic farms and grassland farms with grazing animals. Farmers are to be involved in the state's biodiversity strategy and supported in restructuring their farms. Alongside nature and climate protection, the social side is to be considered so that small and mid-sized farms can survive.

The Greens want to raise the share of organically farmed land in the state from 7 percent today to at least 30 percent. State subsidies are to be paid out primarily on ecological criteria. Training and research are also to focus more on organic farming.

The Greens want much more organic farming. Today 7 percent of the land is organic. It should become at least 30 percent. There should be more money and more advice for this.

The organic farming premium is to be raised and broadened, conversion advice expanded and red tape cut; at the federal level the Organic Farming Act is to be revised. Grassland is to be preserved and its share increased, and agroforestry, paludiculture (farming on rewetted peatland), agrivoltaics and a new protein crop strategy to cut soy imports are to be advanced. The party wants to support digital and robotic technology in the field. Vocational schools are to teach organic farming throughout the curriculum, and universities and public research money are to focus more on greening agriculture. Public research is also to secure diverse, climate-adapted seed from conventional breeding.

The Greens reject genetic engineering in farming and forestry, including the so-called new techniques. These are to remain subject to risk assessment and approval under genetic engineering law. The party sees GMO-free production as a competitive advantage.

The Greens say no to genetic engineering in fields and in food. This also applies to new methods. The state should check these methods strictly. The party wants to protect nature and health.

According to the platform, the rejection covers fields, forests, food and animals. The demand is justified by precaution for the environment and health and by rulings of the European Court of Justice. GMO-free production is described as an advantage for Schleswig-Holstein and Europe.

The Greens want more food to be processed and sold within the region. This is meant to secure an economic future for farming. At the same time, education starting in daycare is to teach where food comes from.

The Greens want more food from the region. Small dairies and slaughterhouses should get permits more easily. Children should learn where food comes from. They should also learn to cook fresh meals.

The platform mentions more mobile slaughtering as well as local processing and marketing of plant and animal products. Permits for small dairies, butcher shops and slaughterhouses are to become simpler. The value of organic and regionally produced food is to become better known. To that end, the party wants to develop teaching content in schools, vocational training and universities, including how to prepare fresh meals.

The Greens want to prevent farmland from becoming concentrated among investors and financial firms. To that end, the state's law on land transactions is to be adjusted. Young farmers are to find it easier to take over farms.

The Greens want farmland to belong to many people. Big finance firms should not buy more and more land. The party wants to change a law for this. Young people should be able to take over a farm more easily.

The federal government is to effectively restrict share deals, meaning the purchase of land through company shares. The change to the land transaction law is to come in the next legislative term. For farm takeovers, expanded advisory services are planned together with advice centers, initiatives and the Chamber of Agriculture. The party also wants to support public-interest models such as community-supported agriculture, citizen shares and cooperatives, and to set up a state contact point with its own funding and advisory program.

The Greens want to cut pesticide use in half by 2030 as a first step and better protect waters from fertilizer. At the federal level they advocate a pesticide levy. According to the platform, those who cause environmental damage should pay for it themselves.

The Greens want less poison on the fields. By 2030 there should be only half as much. Near rivers and lakes there should be no fertilizer and no poison. Makers and users should pay for damage themselves.

The levy is to be based on how toxic the active substances are; product liability and mandatory insurance for environmental damage would apply to producers and users. Strips along water bodies are to be kept free of fertilizer and pesticides, using conservation contracts and dialogue with farms. The EU Nitrates Directive and Water Framework Directive are to be implemented through the fertilizer ordinance and effectively monitored in the state. The share of high-nature-value farmland is to reach 19 percent, mainly within one kilometer of protected areas. Tree nurseries are to get support in switching to pesticide-free methods.

The Greens want meals in daycare centers, schools, hospitals and canteens to be healthier and more sustainable, with a steadily rising share of organic food. A quality label would show how many regional and organic products are used. At the federal level they push for binding food labeling rules.

The Greens want better food in daycare centers, schools and hospitals. There should be more organic food there. A label should show how much food comes from the region. Food packages should clearly say where the food comes from and what is in it.

Publicly funded institutions would be subject to quality and sustainability standards based on the guidelines of the German Nutrition Society (DGE), with added requirements on environmental, climate, animal and marine protection. State-run canteens and cafeterias are to become showcase projects offering more organic, vegan, vegetarian, seasonal and regional dishes. Advisory services for kitchen staff modeled on Copenhagen's "House of Food" would receive funding. A quality label for canteens, restaurants and the food sector would show the share of regional and organic products. At the federal level, the Greens want standards and mandatory labeling for origin, ingredients and production methods, including genetic engineering.

The Greens want farms to keep fewer animals per unit of land. They name a target of no more than two livestock units per hectare. The reasons given are climate protection, water protection and animal welfare.

The Greens want fewer animals on each piece of land. One hectare should have at most two livestock units. One livestock unit is about one grown cow. This should help the climate, the water and the animals.

Animal numbers are to be tied more closely to the land a farm actually works. According to the platform, lower density cuts CO2 emissions and reduces nitrate and phosphate pollution in waters. It also says the risk of disease outbreaks falls and fewer antibiotics and pollutants enter the food chain.

The Greens want to move livestock farming to the higher husbandry tiers 3 and 4 over the long term, following the recommendations of the Borchert Commission. A dedicated federal funding tool, such as an animal welfare levy, is to pay for this. Pasture farming and the switch to organic livestock farming would be supported.

The Greens want farm animals to live better. Animals should get more space and time outdoors. Money for this should come from an animal welfare levy, for example. That is an extra charge on animal products. Farmers should find it easier to switch to organic farming.

Animals are to get more space, activity and outdoor access, feeding is to be adapted, and slaughter made gentler. Because the platform says about 90 percent of pigs are kept at tier 1, farms with difficult conditions should first move quickly to tier 2. A nationwide pasture premium, also covering dairy cattle, is to be introduced, and free-range farming with hardy breeds is supported. A platform for exchanging information would ease the switch to organic livestock farming, with the animal welfare levy and a public-good premium named as possible support. Where emissions rules stand in the way, the Greens want changes to federal building and environmental law. University research on avoiding stress and pain in farm animals would also be funded.