The German agricultural production model is flexible and diverse.

Author: zheng Hong People's Daily release time:2013-04-02

four employees can milk 60 cows at the same time through the automatic rotary milking table. In the cowshed, the cows can move freely, rest, eat and even enjoy massage. Less than 50 people are responsible for planting and operating more than 3000 hectares of land. Cow dung and grain are directly used to generate electricity and sold to the national power grid. This is what the reporter saw when he visited a modern farm in Brandenburg, Germany.

Self-management, multi-family farms have obvious advantages

the farm combines milk and farming. The head of the farm, Lothar Pavlovsky, told our reporter that his Kastert Agricultural Production Cooperative has been producing milk since the 1950 s. At present, more than 1200 cows on the farm produce 12000 tons of milk annually. This is the main source of income for the cooperative.

On the farm, reporters rarely saw workers. "The degree of automation of agricultural production is getting higher and higher, and the labor force required is getting less and less." Pavlovsky explained, "The woman who drives the tractor you just saw has 30 hectares of land in her family, but she doesn't want to run it alone, but she is willing to work here, so she joined the cooperative and put the land. I rented it to us and came here to work." Pavlovsky said that this form of multi-family farm has many advantages over some family farms. "Single family farms are likely to work 365 days a year, but here, the working hours are fixed, and someone can replace them when they are sick. The farm also has many benefits, which makes people feel like they are in a team."

the Castert Agricultural Production Cooperative is in good condition. Farmers work here and can get 10 euros per hour. In addition, the share holders also enjoy an annual dividend. When they retire and withdraw their shares, they can get a subsidy according to their length of service and position. The development decisions of cooperatives are made by the farmers themselves. "Our development and operation will not be a problem in the next 20 years." Pavlovsky said.

At present, the German agricultural production model tends to be flexible. In 2010, more than 90% of Germany's nearly 300000 farms were family farms. Johannes Funk, a spokesman for the German Farmers' Federation, said that most of the German farms are run by families. Many farms no longer purchase large-scale equipment by themselves, but rent equipment and services from other companies. Their farming methods are becoming more and more flexible.

Clear use, through policy regulation of land prices

walking in the core area of Kastert Farm, the reporter saw many newly purchased agricultural farming equipment, as well as modern facilities such as newly-built cattle sheds, newly installed solar panels on the roof, automatic turntable milking platform, and the expansion plan of cattle sheds is also under preparation.

Pavlovsky said that in the past three years, the company has invested a total of 5.5 million euros in production expansion and equipment upgrading, of which 1.5 million euros are its own capital, 3 million euros are from bank loans, and 1 million euros are from Federal state funding. Together with federal and state funding, the European Agricultural Fund is used to help farms become more competitive, improve the environment and increase the diversity of their produce. The federal states have a certain degree of autonomy in setting the conditions for funding.

In addition, the German government regulates the price of agricultural land through policies. According to the statistics of the German Farmers' Federation, the price of agricultural land in Germany has increased rapidly in recent years. In 2011 alone, the price of land increased by 14% to 13500 euros per hectare, of which the price of land in the eastern federal states increased by 19%. German law guarantees that agricultural land cannot be used for non-agricultural purposes. In recent years, federal subsidies for renewable energy have led many companies to invest in growing grains and rapeseed for bioenergy, which currently accounts for 2.3 million hectares of agricultural land.

Fengke believes that in the past few years, bioenergy has developed rapidly under the guidance of the government. With the government's discussion on reducing bioenergy subsidies, investment in the field of renewable energy has also been greatly reduced. At present, the proportion of German agricultural products used for food and energy is in a relatively balanced stage.

Focus on environmental protection, government funding is not linked to production

germany is the second largest agricultural producer in the EU and the largest producer of milk and pork in the EU. In 2011, Germany's agricultural output was 52.3 billion billion euros, or 13.6 percent of the EU's total, second only to France. Considering the price difference between the EU market and the world market for agricultural products, in order to ensure EU food safety and farmers' income, the EU provides direct subsidies to farms.

Funk told reporters that in Germany, this allowance is no longer linked to the amount of output, but attaches importance to the farm's environmental protection and other concepts, such as considering the farm's compliance with animal, natural, environmental and consumer protection standards, which are important factors linked to agricultural subsidies. A few days ago, the EU Ministry of Agriculture decided to link 30% of subsidies to agriculture with the environment in the future.

German farmers currently receive an average EU allowance of around € 320 per hectare of land. Funk said that decoupling subsidies from production would help prevent farmers from increasing production in pursuit of more subsidies and putting pressure on the market. The decoupling of subsidies from production allows farmers to think more about market demand. Pavlovsky told reporters that before 2015, the EU will implement milk quotas, and farmers must not exceed the quota production, otherwise they will face penalties.

Fengke told reporters that the EU will conduct random checks on the compliance of farms with the guidelines from time to time, and unqualified farms will be punished by reducing subsidies.

Man of Feeding