The President of the German Farmers’ Association, Joachim Rukwied, has launched a scathing critique of the national grocery retail sector, accusing them of deliberately undermining the value of domestically produced food through aggressive price wars. Speaking to the Mediengruppe Bayern, Rukwied emphasized that rising consumer prices have failed to alleviate the precarious financial situation facing farmers, instead exacerbating it. He specifically cited dramatic price declines in staples like butter and milk, alongside depressed producer prices for grains and pork, as key indicators of the industry’s distress.
Rukwied condemned the intense price competition characterizing the pre-holiday retail period, asserting that farmers are bearing the brunt of these tactics. “These massive price reductions cannot be passed on to our dairy farmers” he declared, using the example of butter being sold for as little as 99 cents to illustrate the devaluation of high-quality, locally sourced products. He questioned the long-term sustainability of such practices and their impact on the viability of German agriculture.
Looking ahead to early 2026, Rukwied outlined a series of critical challenges requiring urgent government intervention. He specifically demanded accelerated bureaucratic reform and the provision of adequate funding for the ongoing transformation of animal husbandry practices. This modernization, widely supported by society, necessitates substantial financial investment, he argued, adding that the promised bureaucratic reductions must translate into tangible relief for farmers.
Addressing the crucial need to mitigate climate change, Rukwied underscored the necessity of access to effective and reliable crop protection products. He linked this directly to the broader goal of ensuring a secure and domestically-sourced food supply, insisting that German agriculture must be rendered competitive once more. These issues, he declared, are “urgently to be addressed and admit of no postponement.
Rukwied’s assessment of the first year of the black-red (social democratic and Christian democratic) coalition government has been described as “mixed”. While acknowledging the government’s reinstatement of the agricultural diesel subsidy, the repeal of the material flow balance regulation and a reduction in electricity taxes, Rukwied stressed that these measures are insufficient to offset the pressures stemming from high operational costs, burdensome bureaucracy and rising minimum wages. He insists the government must provide significantly greater relief to struggling farms.
Ultimately, Rukwied emphasized the restoration of the competitiveness of German agriculture within the European market as a primary imperative. To achieve this, he reiterated the call for a fundamental policy shift-one previously promised by Christian Democratic Union leader Friedrich Merz during the last election campaign. The failure to enact such a shift, Rukwied suggested, risks jeopardizing the future of German farming and its contribution to national food security.