Great dissatisfaction with Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir (56, Greens): Food producers, associations and farmers accuse him of inactivity – while prices are exploding and there is a risk of a food emergency because of the Ukraine war!
Specifically, industry insiders complain that they are not heard or loaded in view of Özdemir’s dramatic supply situation. Instead, the minister would receive eco-organizations such as “Foodwatch”, it is said.
The head of the association for the bakery trade, Daniel Schneider, is already warning: “Eating shouldn’t be a luxury!” And the president of the German food industry, Christian von Boetticher (51), was outraged about BILD: “At some point it will no longer be a question of how many raw materials for our food on the world market, but whether we can still get any.”
Boetticher demands: “The minister must finally switch from the Greens program to active crisis management.”
CDU SME boss Gitta Connemann is also alarmed: Özdemir “wouldn’t have to worry about anything else from morning to night” than the food crisis. “Instead, empty diaries, the occasional meeting with eco-activists and social media videos about safety vests for chickens. Cem Özdemir acts irresponsibly.”
Özdemir rejects the criticism. “The food supply is secure in Germany and in the EU due to the high degree of self-sufficiency,” said a spokesman. Against bottlenecks e.g. For example, with sunflower oil, nothing can be done because of the war.
The fact is: According to the Ifo institute, the prices for food and tobacco products rose by 56.8%. In the next three months, companies expect another plus of 78.7%.
A particular annoyance for many: Özdemir wants to stick to the set-aside of arable land to create more flowering meadows. In view of the price shock and an additional 50 million starving people worldwide (UN), one cannot “explain to anyone that German farmers should only ‘organically farm’ 20% of cultivated land in the future and that 10% should even be set aside as ecological fallow land,” von Boetticher complains.
Fear: This will make food even more expensive!
The head of the farmers’ association, Joachim Ruckwied (60), only shakes his head about Özdemir’s rest mode. He fears a shortage of fertiliser: “Should there be a shortage of nitrogen fertilisers, significantly lower harvests could be expected”. The government must act urgently.