As Germany’s election season unfolds, agriculture and environmental issues are notably absent from campaign agendas. Nonetheless, at Berlin’s annual Wir haben es satt! demonstration, farmers and activists marched – without the usual tractors – demanding a food system that protects the climate, nature, animal welfare and rural communities. Hours earlier, the farmers held a final meeting with outgoing Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir. Claudia Schievelbein reports.
This article originally appeared in the German publication Unabhängige Bauernstimme (Independent Farmers’ Voice)
German election campaign season is in full swing in Berlin. The Wir haben es satt (WHES) demonstration has marched through the capital every January for the last 15 years, and for the first time, election posters are everywhere. Agricultural policy is nowhere to be found on them, and environmental and climate protection – unlike in recent election campaigns – hardly feature at all. Three years ago, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) printed the slogan ‘Climate Chancellor’ under the same photo of Olaf Scholz; today it seems like something from another galaxy.
However, the WHES alliance is calling for courageous agricultural policy. The placards and banners at the demo have become more agri-political over the years. Although there are still good-humoured chicken costume wearers and the demo is still a colourful place, the concerns of farmers are articulated more clearly than in other years. Fair prices, business start-ups, access to land, genetic engineering, trade policy, but also climate change, which farmers have been experiencing first-hand for years in the form of extreme weather, dominate the discourse. And this time, the hefty icons of farming are missing: an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease just a few kilometres from Berlin prompted the WHES alliance to do without tractors in the demo. Instead, a large banner with photos of tractors from previous years was lovingly produced in night meetings and carried by farmers at the head of the demo.
Only together
Probably in part because several hundred metres of imposing tractors and their essential symbolism – farmers carrying their demands from the countryside to the city – are very impressive, the estimate of the number of participants was rather conservative at the beginning. However, anyone who watched the demo march past before the finale could see for themselves that there were at least as many people here as in previous years.
The mood was fierce, with the motto ‘Who is actually profiting here?’ providing a point of reference for many speakers. It became clear that the alliance cannot be divided when trade unionist Harald Schaum emphasised that corporate profits in trade must be expressed in higher wages for market gardeners and fair prices for farmers. And farmer Marlene Herzog made a powerful plea for a better world, not only for the farming profession on stage in front of the potential tractor drivers, but also for the future of children and young people in an intact natural environment.
A last gesture
Early in the morning, still in the dark, farmers had what was probably their last meeting with the outgoing Federal Minister of Agriculture Cem Özdemir and his State Secretary Ophelia Nick before the International Conference of Agriculture Ministers. Here, something was brought to a close that had begun three years earlier when many hopes were placed in the Greens holding this ministry position in the government coalition. Once again, demands for the strengthening of a farming sector that protects the climate, animals and the environment and many farms in vibrant rural areas were presented. The conclusion of the farmers’ alliance is both sobering and encouraging: “We must continue, we will continue!”
Hand in Hand for the Future of Farming – Call For Courage at #WHES25
The EU Agri-Food Playbook 2025 – What to expect, why it matters
