ÖDP on agriculture

The ÖDP wants agriculture geared toward regional cycles rather than the world market. EU subsidies would be paid according to ecological, social and animal welfare criteria, and farms should be able to obtain higher prices.

The ÖDP wants farming for the region. Farmers should produce less for the world market. EU money should reward care for nature and animals. The size of the fields should no longer count. Farmers should get better prices.

Imports of feed and farm products would stop if they were produced in environmentally harmful or socially unfair ways or undercut EU animal welfare standards. Imported meat would carry a sustainability tax. Farms would gain market power against grocery chains and dairies, and consumer prices would reflect environmental and labor costs. Farmland and forest ownership would be widely spread and land speculation ended. Food should come from the region where possible and be sold directly; supermarkets would be barred from throwing food away. The program also calls for near-natural forestry and a ban on bottom trawling.

The ÖDP wants to tax biocides and synthetic nitrogen fertilizer and ban certain neonicotinoids without exception. Genetic engineering would not be used in farming, and soils are to become healthier.

The ÖDP wants less poison on fields. Pest killers and artificial fertilizer should be taxed. Some insect poisons should be banned completely. Farming should not use genetic engineering. The soil should be healthy.

The ban covers neonicotinoids that have repeatedly been detected in the human body or in groundwater. Pesticides not approved in the EU could no longer be exported. The rejection of genetic engineering includes feed, livestock, plants and new techniques such as CRISPR/Cas. A new soil policy would reduce contamination, compaction, erosion and over-fertilization, supported by varied crop rotation and permanent ground cover. More professorships for organic farming and research on climate-friendly agriculture are also planned.

The ÖDP wants to raise the legal minimum standards for farm animals substantially. The plans include an EU-wide ban on cages, fewer animals per area, short transport distances and mandatory labeling of meat.

The ÖDP wants farm animals to live better. Cages should be banned in the EU. A farm should only keep as many animals as its land can support. Animals should travel only short distances to slaughter. Meat labels should show how the animal lived.

Livestock would be limited to two livestock units per hectare, with feed grown and manure used locally. Animals for slaughter could be transported only about 100 kilometers. The program counts free-range keeping, no mutilation and a staff-to-animal ratio as part of humane husbandry. Reserve antibiotics would be banned in fattening, and preventive antibiotic use allowed only in exceptional cases. A uniform mandatory EU label would give information on pesticides, antibiotics, genetic engineering and how the animals were kept. Old livestock breeds would be preserved and supported.