What do the parties in Rhineland-Palatinate say on agriculture?

The AfD wants to fund farming in the state, raise self-sufficiency in products such as fruit and vegetables, and reduce paperwork for farmers. Agricultural policy is to become more independent of the EU. The program justifies this with food security in times of crisis.

The AfD wants to give farmers in the state more money. Germany should grow more of its own fruit and vegetables. Farmers should have less paperwork. The EU should have less say over farming.

The AfD wants to push at the federal level for agricultural diesel to be fully tax-free and for the refund for 2024 and 2025 to be granted in full retroactively. Other charges on fuel, such as the carbon levy, are to be dropped as well. This is meant to relieve farms and strengthen their competitiveness.

Farmers need a lot of diesel for their machines. The AfD wants them to pay no tax on it. Farmers should get money back for 2024 and 2025. The carbon charge on fuel should also go.

The AfD wants to support young farmers and winegrowers with a state bonus when they take over a farm, in order to preserve family farms. A voluntary agricultural year is also meant to attract new people to the sector.

Many farms cannot find someone to take over. The AfD wants to give young farmers and winegrowers money when they take over a farm. Young people should be able to work on a farm for one year as volunteers. That way they can try out the job.

The AfD calls for special federal rules on the minimum wage for seasonal farm workers and a five-month rule so they can work on farms for longer. This is meant above all to protect small farms from high labor costs.

Farms often hire workers just for one season. The minimum wage applies to them. The AfD wants separate wage rules for these workers. They should also be allowed to work for up to five months.

The AfD wants to simplify the approval of pesticides in Germany, reform the EU pesticide regulation and thoroughly slim down the Düngeverordnung (fertilizer ordinance). Farmers are to decide on use themselves according to good professional practice. The program expects reliable harvests and stable prices as a result.

Farmers protect their plants with sprays and fertilize their fields. There are many rules for this. The AfD wants to make these rules simpler. New products should be approved more easily. The AfD trusts what farmers know.

The AfD wants to simplify the labeling of regional food and establish origin labeling. Imported meat is to be labeled, and farm shops are to be supported as a form of direct sales. Consumers should find it easier to see where a product comes from.

Many people want to buy food from their own region. The AfD wants simple rules for labels. The label should say where the product comes from. People should be able to spot meat from abroad. Farm shops should get support.

The AfD wants to support winegrowing, especially the labor-intensive cultivation of steep slopes. It rejects blanket bans on plant protection products and wants to make drone use easier instead. The Straußenrecht (the right of winegrowers to run a seasonal tavern) is to be extended to 180 days a year.

A lot of wine grows in Rhineland-Palatinate. The AfD wants to help winegrowers. Growing wine on steep hills should get extra money. Winegrowers should be allowed to serve their own wine on 180 days a year.

The AfD wants to scrap the so-called Wassercent (water cent) entirely. The charge for extracting groundwater and surface water has applied to all agriculture and forestry since 2024. In the party's view, the administrative effort is out of proportion to the revenue.

Anyone who takes water from the ground or from rivers pays money to the state. This is called the water cent. Since 2024 all farmers and foresters pay it too. The AfD wants to get rid of this charge completely.

The CDU wants to strengthen domestic farm production and relieve farmers of regulations and paperwork. Food production is to take priority over other land uses, and agriculture and the environment would again be handled by a single ministry.

The CDU wants to help farmers. They should have fewer rules and less office work. Fields should be used for food first. Cafeterias in public offices, daycare centers and schools should use more local food. The CDU is against a sugar tax.

The CDU wants to help agriculture adapt to climate change, for example through irrigation, adapted seed and modern technology. A research focus is to develop strategies against the reed glasswing cicada, a crop pest.

The climate is changing. There are more dry spells and storms. The CDU wants to help farmers deal with this. Fields should be watered better. An insect is harming beets and potatoes. The CDU wants research on how to fight it.

The CDU wants to preserve winegrowing through targeted support, research, new grape varieties and modern crop protection technology. Young winegrowers would get interest-free loans, and the subsidy for steep-slope vineyards would rise.

Many winegrowers have big problems. The CDU wants to help them. Young winegrowers should be able to borrow money without paying interest. Vineyards on steep slopes should get more money. The CDU is against bans on crop protection.

The CDU wants to repeal the state government's decree on covered-wagon and tractor tours with wine tastings and replace it with practical, legally sound rules. The platform says these tours are part of wine culture and an important source of income for many businesses. Winegrowing advisory centers are also to get more staff.

Wine regions offer wagon rides with wine tasting. The state government made strict rules for them. The CDU wants to remove these rules. There should be new and simpler rules. The CDU also wants more advice services for winegrowers.

The Greens want to raise the share of organic farming in Rhineland-Palatinate significantly and give it more weight in farm subsidies. The existing organic action plan is to be broadened into a state food and nutrition strategy.

The Greens want more organic farming in Rhineland-Palatinate. Organic farms should get more support. There should be a bigger plan for food and nutrition. The Greens also want to protect farmland from speculation.

The Greens want farms to use significantly fewer pesticides and call for a pesticide levy to be examined at the federal level. At the same time, farming and nature conservation are to cooperate more closely, and soils are to be supported as carbon stores.

The Greens want fewer pesticides on fields. Pesticides are chemicals against pests and weeds. The federal government should look into a charge on pesticides. Farmers and conservation groups should work together more. Healthy soil should store more CO₂.

The Greens want to expand organic winegrowing significantly and help the wine sector adapt to the climate crisis and drought. Steep-slope vineyards are to be preserved and supported as culturally and ecologically valuable sites.

The Greens want more organic winegrowing in Rhineland-Palatinate. Winegrowers should need fewer pesticides. Hardy grape varieties should help with that. The steep vineyards should be kept. Wine festivals and seasonal wine taverns should stay.

The SPD wants to relieve farmers and winegrowers of red tape and modernize the agricultural administration. For EU farm policy from 2028 on, it calls for a more efficient and practical design that benefits farms directly.

Farmers and winegrowers should spend less time in the office. The SPD wants to review rules and make procedures simpler. All applications should go through one digital platform. EU farm policy should also become simpler.

The SPD wants to keep supporting generational change on farms and expand advice for young farmers and winegrowers. At the same time, the state is to become a leader in digital agriculture by moving research into farms faster.

Young people should be able to take over farms. The SPD wants to give them better advice. Farmers should use more digital technology. New knowledge from universities should reach farms quickly.

The SPD wants to maintain conventional and organic farming alike and commits to livestock farming in the state. Marketing of regional products with high quality and animal welfare standards is to be promoted.

The SPD wants to keep both kinds of farming: conventional and organic. Animals should keep living on farms. Food from the region should sell better. People should treat food with more care.

The SPD wants to help wineries through structural change with measures to boost sales and competitiveness. It favors quality over more acreage and wants to increase support for steep-slope viticulture.

The SPD wants to help winemakers. Wine should sell better, also abroad. There should be no new land for vineyards. Vineyards on steep hills should get more money.

The SPD wants to better insure farmers and winemakers against crop losses and promote climate-adapted varieties and growing methods. The platform points to the effects of climate change already felt in fields and vineyards.

The climate is changing. This hits farmers and winemakers. The SPD wants to give more money for insurance against bad harvests. It also wants to support vines that cope well with the new climate.