Association heads of butchers and farmers met
Frankfurt am Main, November 1, 2017. Last week, the long-awaited exchange of views between the heads of the German Butchers' Association and the German Farmers' Association took place in Berlin. The DBV refinement president Johannes Röring, DBV general secretary Bernhard Krüsken, the DBV department head responsible for animal husbandry Roger Fechler as well as DFV president Herbert Dohrmann and DFV general manager Martin Fuchs took part.
The discussion primarily served the basic exchange of assessments on the current market for livestock and meat. But the outlook for future joint activities was also a subject of discussion. There was a great deal of agreement on basic positions in many areas, for example on the solutions to be sought for the ban on piglet castration without anesthetic. Both associations share the critical attitude to both boar fattening and immunocastration. The “fourth way” is preferred, castration with local pain elimination.
There was also basic agreement on other animal welfare issues, both in terms of animal husbandry and slaughter. Both sides see the need to achieve improved animal welfare, but both associations demand that further developments must be designed in such a way that companies do not have to give up because the requirements cannot be met. Exporting animal husbandry and animal welfare to "cheap countries" would do the opposite of what you want to achieve.
Structural issues also took up a lot of space in the discussion. The already advanced process of concentration in agriculture is already making it extremely difficult in many places to provide slaughter animals from regional production for the butcher trade. The representatives of the farmers' association emphasized that the close market partnership between agriculture and the butcher trade is still of great importance for the farms. Secure sales markets, often above-average marketing prices and a good image among consumers are significant advantages over other market partners, which agriculture can no longer do without.
In the round of talks, intensive discussions were held on how the regional marketing structures can be preserved. In particular, it is about making more animals available to the butcher trade, which enable a differentiation between industry and trade. The requirements made by customers in terms of regionality, animal welfare, short transport routes or rural husbandry must be the benchmark here.
Finally, it was agreed to continue to fill the joint cooperation with life. For example, it should be checked whether mutual visits to the responsible committee meetings of the other association are possible and sensible. Here the mutual needs could be presented in order to promote the cooperation as a whole. The talks with the German Farmers' Association are to be continued in January on the sidelines of the Green Week in Berlin.
