Özdemir's conclusion: Little progress for sustainable agriculture?

Özdemir's conclusion: Little progress for sustainable agriculture?

According to a report from www.tagesschau.de, the Green Party politician and Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir pursued the goal of making agriculture more sustainable around two years ago. Among other things, he wanted to ensure that fewer farm animals were kept in Germany and that they were kept better. But the environmental protection organization Greenpeace speaks of two lost years, and agricultural researcher Matin Qaim from the University of Bonn is of the opinion that Germany is now very far from a sustainable system. Only around 14 percent of farms operated organically in 2022, while the vast majority of farms that work conventionally still lack a sustainability strategy.

From a scientific perspective, the biggest construction site is animal husbandry, as it is responsible for large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions, high land use and over-fertilization. Agricultural researcher Qaim therefore calls for a serious approach to further reduce the consumption of meat and other animal products. To achieve this, the reduced VAT rate for animal products should be deleted. According to Greenpeace, the number of farm animals should also be halved by 2045. However, the Green politician Özdemir has so far only provided one billion euros for better animal husbandry, while science sees a need of three to five billion euros per year. In addition, his position on new genetic engineering breeding methods and glyphosate, a controversial pesticide, remains unclear.

The influences that these unachieved goals of the Minister of Agriculture could have on the financial sector and the market are diverse. A lower acceptance of conventionally produced products could lead to an increase in demand for ecological and sustainable products, which could also lead to increased interest in investing in corresponding companies. In addition, increased regulation of agriculture could lead to increased costs for producers and consumers. These effects could pose new challenges for the market and the financial sector.