–Rally for a new agricultural policy in Germany

The German campaign „Meine Landwirtschaft – unsere Wahl“ (My agriculture – our choice): www.meine-landwirtschaft.de has organised an large, nation-wide rally through Germany culminating in a protest in front of the German chancellery.

Following the „Wir haben es satt“ rally on 22 January 2011 in Berlin, one of the largest public demonstration for a new agricultural policy in recent German history, farmers from all over Germany have now toured Germany on their tractors all the way to Berlin where they convened on June 9th, 2011 for a protest rally in front of the German chancellery. They are calling for a small-scale, fair, animal-friendly and ecological agriculture.

The routing of the rally is available here:
http://www.meine-landwirtschaft.de/sternfahrt/routen.html

The closing event „Angela, we need to talk“ including a farmers‘ banquet took place on June 9th from 10am to 12am in front of the German chancellery.

Take a look at the video appeal:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfxU28mHAdY

The farmers from all over Germany presented a list of demands to chancellor Merkel calling for a cultural change in farming. From the dominant unsustainable, resource-intensive, industrial-style farming and centralised food industry, so far favoured by EU farm policies, to sustainable farming and closer connections between farmers and consumers, providing high care for public health, environment and animal welfare.

The six main demands are:

  1. Guarantee the human right to healthy food worldwide
  2. Fair prices and fair incomes for consumers and farmers
  3. Strong animal welfare for healthy food
  4. Diversity in place of monoculture
  5. Climate protection and energy efficiency
  6. Innovation in place of high-risk, monopolistic technologies

Download the full text and the list of demands here.

German Farmers’ rally “Sternfahrt” arrives in Berlin on 6 June 2011