Meat prices to rise in Germany, warns new agriculture minister

Due to the desire of the new "green" Minister of Agriculture to green production, meat prices will probably rise in Germany in 2022.

Animal husbandry produces about 14% of greenhouse gases on Earth. Therefore, many people limit their consumption of meat or refuse it, not only because of pity for animals, but also for environmental reasons. There was even a new movement - flexitarianism. People who follow this diet do not completely forego animal products like vegans or vegetarians. They just keep meat consumption to a minimum. Looks like some Germans are going to have to become a little flexitarian next year as meat prices rise in Germany. This is due to the new plans of the Minister of Agriculture Cem Ozdemir. The politician wants to increase the share of organic meat products or products with a lower carbon footprint on store shelves.

“Sometimes it seems to me that a good motor oil is more important to us than a good salad oil,” the minister, who is a member of the Greens, said in a comment to Bild am Sonntag.

In Germany, the price of meat will rise, but its quality will improve

According to Ozdemir, the quality of food in Germany is too low, as are the prices. Because of this, everyone loses. According to him, cheap meat can only be produced by farms that do not adhere to high standards of animal welfare and are more harmful to the environment. The price of food should reflect the "environmental truth," the minister said. Consumers also suffer from cheap food that is too high in fat, sugar and salt. More than 50% of the German adult population is overweight because of these products. “For too long, the former government tried to force the industry to reduce the amount of these ingredients (sugar, salt, fat) through voluntary commitments. Now it's over. We will introduce mandatory reduction targets,” Ozdemir said. The stated goal of the new government, as articulated in the coalition agreement, is to increase the share of organic agricultural land from the current 10% to 30% by 2030. This will also help ease the transition to organic farming.

Not everyone agrees

The plans of the Minister of Agriculture immediately drew criticism from the conservatives, who are now in opposition. Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder said the federal government "does not exist to dictate to people what and how much they should eat."

Söder, head of government for a region in which agriculture plays an important role and farmers' associations have strong influence, said he doubts whether Özdemir's vision is right for German agriculture, writes DW. Özdemir is ramming open doors. The food industry is already doing as much as other industries to make products more environmentally friendly. Nobody wants to produce more meat from tortured animals. All these goals have been formulated before - the problem is that it costs money. And the key question: who will pay for everything? says Christoph Minhoff, head of the German Food Federation.

Who will pay for the meat?

In July 2021, a special government commission on the future of industrial agriculture, which includes both environmental groups and farmers' groups, set the same goals as Özdemir: reduce meat consumption, increase climate protection. They came to the conclusion that beef should cost 5-6 times more than it does now. That is, more than 80 euros per kilogram instead of the current 14 euros. This price increase is necessary to offset the costs of pollution and biodiversity loss. According to the Commission, these costs amount to 90 billion euros per year. According to the same calculations, dairy products should cost two to four times more than they do now. The Commission also recommended an investment of about 7–11 billion euros per year to finance the ecological transformation of agriculture. Even in this case, as it turned out in the report, it would not have been possible to avoid a reduction in the total number of livestock on German farms. This would inevitably mean less meat on the market and higher prices. Farmers and environmentalists are not as far off in their views as is commonly believed. After all, farmers also want their products to be valued more. Reinhard Jung, head of the Freie Bauern group of independent farmers, doesn't think food prices have to rise in order for farmers to be paid fairly. to make their products more valuable. Reinhard Jung, head of the Freie Bauern group of independent farmers, doesn't think food prices have to rise in order for farmers to be paid fairly. to make their products more valuable. Reinhard Jung, head of the Freie Bauern group of independent farmers, doesn't think food prices have to rise in order for farmers to be paid fairly.

“If we could get some money out of the profits of big supermarkets, big slaughterhouses and big dairies, the consumer wouldn't have to pay much more,” says Mr. Jung. Udo Hemmerling, head of the German Farmers' Association, doesn't think antitrust measures against shops will help.

In his opinion, it is worth introducing incentives and subsidies for farmers. Farms that offer the best conditions for keeping animals or the highest degree of environmental friendliness of production will receive payments. Can everyone afford quality food? The problem of greening the production of meat and other products also has a social aspect. The government under a Social Democratic chancellor cannot afford to ignore him. The fact is that higher food prices mean an increase in the cost of living. This will be problematic for low-income citizens.

Today, 3.8 million people in Germany rely on state benefits.Paritätische Gesamtverband, the umbrella organization of German social welfare organizations, believes that low-income people should receive compensation payments in the event of a rise in food prices. "Environmental transition must go hand in hand with good social policies" , says the chairman of the association, Ulrich Schneider.