Livestock farming in Germany causes about 66% of GHG emissions in the national agricultural sector. Worldwide, it is more than 14.5% of global GHG emissions. Causes include land use changes, such as draining peatlands for animal husbandry or cutting down rainforest for feed production, as well as emissions caused by transport, processing and by the animals themselves.
The Federal Environment Agency (UBA) and the Commission on the Future of Agriculture (ZKL) make it clear that livestock numbers in Germany must be reduced in order to protect the climate and the environment! 50 % less writes the Federal Environment Agency. According to the „Planetary Health Diet“ of the EAT-Lancet Commission, 80-90% less red meat and 50% less dairy products must be eaten in Europe by 2050 in order to protect human health and planetary boundaries.
Nevertheless, the German government remains vague in its coalition agreement about how this is to be achieved! It could rely on the so-called Borchert Commission, which wants to raise money for more animal welfare. In order to initiate a change in the system, we demand that investments in more animal welfare be linked to a drastic reduction in animal numbers and the preservation of farms!
Which meat is on the shelves and how it is produced is increasingly determined by a few meat companies. In addition to slaughtering, they also take over the fine cutting and processing as well as feed and chick production and push smaller farms out of the value chain.
With increasing market power, corporations like PHW and Tönnies dictate prices for producers who can no longer switch to other distribution channels. Farmers can hardly cover their production costs and are driven to ruin. As a result, farms are dying out.
In the last ten years, 47% of pig farms have given up – especially smaller farms that could not withstand the price pressure. At the same time, the average number of pigs per farm has risen from 818 to 1268 in the past decade.
Only three companies (Westfleisch, Vion Food Germany & Tönnies) now control almost 60% of German pork processing. At the same time, corporations like Tönnies announce their intention to build even more mega-fattening plants with government animal welfare money. This increasing concentration of market power to the detriment of farmers must finally be stopped.
Our projects:
The new activities booklet offers a lot of background information, opportunities for participating and tips on activities. It motivates the reader to engage with a way of farming based on few animals and small farms.You can order the booklet here and distribute it.
Presenting best practice examples
We are inspired by various approaches from Germany and around the world and present different initiatives of how the animal husbandry turnaround can be advanced. No single initiative can transform the food system on its own — but each one inspires others to boldly follow suit, creates space and shows how things can be done differently. You can find them here (in German).
Livestock agriculture and its impact on the climate, the environment, animals and small farms concern us all. Thus, we started a petition to the German agricultural minister Cem Özdemir to demand the reduction of livestock numbers by 50% until 2030. Sign our petition now! (link)
Aktion Agrar enforces movements and political actions! In January, we were protesting next to a massive pig stable in Ballenstedt, Saxony-Anhalt. We demand urgent action from the agricultural minister of Saxony-Anhalt, Sven Schulze, who is also the chair of the conference if agricultural ministers during 2022. The first conference took place in March 2022 in Magdeburg, where we again stood up for the ministers to enforce the urgently necessary reduction of livestock numbers within Germany.
We will continue to take effective activities into the streets and therefore increase public pressure on political decision makers during summer and autumn of 2022 and after!
Community activities
We are offering various activities to take part in and to stress our demand for a drastic reduction of animal numbers. Let’s tackle changing agriculture together!
A five-day bike ride on the topic is taking place between the 18th and 23th of July in the region Oldenburger-Münsterland in northwest Germany. Please make sure your bicycles are in good condition so that you can look forward to plenty of fresh air and exciting rest stops.
Information flyer
We are designing a map of the region in Germany called Oldenburger Münsterland, where most livestock farming is located and which is therefore responsible for massive emissions and drinking water pollution.
Dialogue events
Starting in autumn 2022, we are launching a series of dialogue events to bridge the gap between farmers and the climate justice as well as animal rights movement. We believe that despite our differences, we must not fight against each other but tackle the big agroindustry players together.
Poster exhibition
From 2023 on, you will be able to borrow our interactive exhibition on animal agriculture called „Less animals, more future“. The exhibition shows the consequences of large-scale animal farming and suggests how the transformation to more plant-based peasant farming can look like. It includes acces to a quiz, a web tool and provides direct hints to readers on how to get active.
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