Economics
Saturday, 18 August 2018
The pursuit of a worthy animal husbandry in Germany is accompanied by more stringent animal welfare requirements. Farmers want to comply with these guidelines. However, this only works if consumers are involved.
The German farmers' association demands a drastic increase in the price of pork. Otherwise, many pork would be subject to new animal welfare requirements before the bankruptcy, said the vice-president of the association, Werner Schwarz, Saturday's "Rheinische Post". "Pork should be nearly twice as expensive for consumers so that we can meet the animal welfare requirements such as castration of piglets under anesthesia or significantly more room for the sows without bankruptcy."
Because of correspondingly higher prices, the Mastiffs according to Schwarz are no longer profitable, but only retain their current level of income. While many people would want a better attitude from the slaughtered animals, they are often unwilling to spend more on it, Schwarz said. "People want the free-swimming sow under the blossoming apple tree – but they often can not or do not want to pay because they do not feel any added value if they pay more for less meat."
As early as 2017, prices for Pork rose seven percent compared with the previous year. With 600,000 tonnes, pork is the most consumed meat in Germany. Every year, every German eats on average 59 kilos of meat and 29 kilos of meat products such as sausage, of which 60 percent comes from the pig. The kilo of spiced pork in Germany was on average € 7.19 in May, compared to € 7.14 in the previous year. [19659909] Agriculture Minister Julia Klöckner aims for a state animal welfare label with three levels by 2020/2021 in the supermarkets. It must show higher standards in stables and have an "ambitious entry level with a clear distance to the legal minimum standard". The German farmers' association had proposed a combined production of pork and designations of origin. For example, it could be indicated with "D-D" that a pig came from Germany and was fattened here.
Various animal welfare labels have already been launched or announced on the market. The large discounters Lidl and Aldi offer, in contrast to Klöckner's plans, a system with four levels. The first level must comply with the legal standard and the fourth "Bio" criteria.
Source: n-tv.de
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