Linke on agriculture

The Left wants an agricultural transition toward organic farming and land-based livestock keeping. Conventional farms are to be won over through subsidies, and former peatlands are to be rewetted.

The Left wants more organic farming in Bremen. Farmers should get money and help to switch. Pesticides on fields should stop. Old peatlands should become wet again. That helps the climate.

According to the platform, one third of Bremen's land area is farmed, mostly by small and mid-sized family farms. Moving to less intensive farming is meant to protect the climate and biodiversity. Marketing of regional products is to be supported to boost farm income. Pesticides should no longer be used at all, and fertilizer should be restricted further. Around 4,000 hectares of peatland in Bremen and 600 in Bremerhaven are to be rewetted in cooperation with farmers; the party rejects new roads through peatland areas.

The Left wants to end food waste and make "Containern" (taking discarded food from store dumpsters) exempt from punishment. Institutional catering is to switch to a diet with few animal products.

The Left wants less food to end up in the trash. People who take food from store dumpsters should not be punished. Schools and cafeterias should serve less meat. Food should come from the region where possible.

At the federal level, the party wants to push for a lower value-added tax on sustainably produced food and an end to unsustainable subsidies. Community gardens and urban farming should get more support, and home economics and gardening should become part of environmental education. Schools, cafeterias and hospitals should cook according to the Planetary Health Diet and use regional products where possible. Bremen should also press the federal government for a moratorium on deep-sea mining and for global climate justice.

The Left wants to require food retailers to give unsold goods to food banks instead of throwing them away. It also calls for regional cycles in food production and stronger intervention against the market power of large corporations.

Stores often throw food away. The Left wants stores to give this food to food banks. Food banks hand out food to poor people. More food should come from the region. Big companies should have less power.

At the federal level, the party backs decriminalizing Containern (dumpster diving), meaning taking discarded food from trash bins. The program counts local slaughter, processing, and marketing as part of regional cycles. The power of individual slaughterhouses, dairies, and retail chains is to be limited more strictly. It calls for an end to export-oriented farm policy and tighter rules on feed imports. Food inspections are to be stepped up and their results published. At public festivals such as the Freimarkt, reusable containers are to be mandatory.