DW
16.01.2026
As Berlin's Green Week, the largest international agriculture fair, kicks off, German farmers raise the alarm over price pressure from retailers and international trade agreements like the impending EU-Mercosur deal.
Food prices are high, but German farmers do not make big profits
Image: Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/dpa/picture alliance
Agricultural policy rarely takes center stage in Germany. The worries of farmers do not often make the national headlines.
However, at the beginning of the year, there is always a reason to talk about agricultural policy: The Green Week in Berlin.
This year, the global agricultural fair celebrates its centenary. To coincide with this event, the Heinrich Böll Foundation, which has close ties to the Green Party, has published its "Corporate Atlas 2026."
The study states: In Germany, more and more small and medium-sized farms are dying out. One reason is that the domestic supply chains for milk, meat and vegetables are dominated by just four large retail chains that dictate prices and squeeze farmers out of business.
According to a survey by the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations, 68% of Germans polled say that rising living costs are most noticeable in food prices.
Agricultural policy rarely takes center stage in Germany. The worries of farmers do not often make the national headlines.
However, at the beginning of the year, there is always a reason to talk about agricultural policy: The Green Week in Berlin.
This year, the global agricultural fair celebrates its centenary. To coincide with this event, the Heinrich Böll Foundation, which has close ties to the Green Party, has published its "Corporate Atlas 2026."
The study states: In Germany, more and more small and medium-sized farms are dying out. One reason is that the domestic supply chains for milk, meat and vegetables are dominated by just four large retail chains that dictate prices and squeeze farmers out of business.
According to a survey by the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations, 68% of Germans polled say that rising living costs are most noticeable in food prices.
COVID and war in Ukraine
And the Konzernatlas study cites more reasons for the price increase: "The COVID pandemic and Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine have shown how fragile global agricultural supply chains are and how severe the effects of volatile oil and gas prices can be," the researchers write.
"Since 2020, we have seen a 35% increase in food prices, but this has not led to an increase in farmers' incomes," said Matthias Miersch, parliamentary group leader of the ruling center-left Social Democrats (SPD) in the Bundestag, during a panel discussion of leading politicians organized by the German Farmers' Association at the start of Green Week.
Large farms in the East are growing
More than half of Germany's land area is used for agriculture. There is a marked difference between agriculture in the west of the country and the eastern federal states, the area that was communist East Germany (GDR) for decades. In the GDR, collectivization gave rise to huge agricultural enterprises, which developed into today's structurally different large-scale farms after reunification.
According to the Böll Foundation's researchers, the number of farms in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Saxony, two eastern German states, has risen by around half between 2010 and 2024. In all other federal states, including the traditional agricultural areas of Bavaria and Schleswig-Holstein, the number of farms has fallen dramatically.
More than half of Germany's land area is used for agriculture. There is a marked difference between agriculture in the west of the country and the eastern federal states, the area that was communist East Germany (GDR) for decades. In the GDR, collectivization gave rise to huge agricultural enterprises, which developed into today's structurally different large-scale farms after reunification.
According to the Böll Foundation's researchers, the number of farms in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Saxony, two eastern German states, has risen by around half between 2010 and 2024. In all other federal states, including the traditional agricultural areas of Bavaria and Schleswig-Holstein, the number of farms has fallen dramatically.
Mercosur and global market risks
The German Monopolkommission (Monopolies Commission) is a permanent, independent advisory body of jurists, economists and entrepreneurs that advises the German federal government on competition policy and regulation. In 2024, the previous German government tasked it with investigating the concentration in the food retail sector.
Tomaso Duso, the chairman of the commission, summarized its findings: "The power of food retailers and, in some cases, manufacturers has increased significantly at the expense of consumers, while agriculture is often exposed to global market risks."
In the global market, German farmers will soon have to compete under the terms of the new Mercosur agreement. After years of torturous negotiations, the 27 member states of the European Union agreed at the beginning of the year to a free trade agreement with Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. The core of the agreement: the elimination of customs duties. The EU hopes to increase exports of cars and chemical products, while the South American countries want to supply more agricultural products to Europe.
This is causing additional concern for German farmers. Many also argue that the Mercosur agreement, which the European Parliament still has to approve, could undermine the EU's high standards for environmental and animal welfare requirements.
SPD proposes a 'food basket'
The Social Democrats have proposed that supermarkets should sell the most important staple foods at reduced prices.
Agriculture Minister Alois Rainer has rejected this so-called "food basket" proposal, arguing that food should not be sold at a discount.
The chairman of "Tafel Deutschland," Andreas Stepphuhn, does not think much of the idea either. "If you want to change the social situation in this country, you have to change people's income situation," he told the Catholic news agency KNA. Politicians need to pay more attention to growing poverty, Stepphuhn said. Tafel is a nationwide network of over 970 food banks with, according to its own figures, around 1.5 million customers.
Despite all the criticism of supermarkets and their concentration, the high prices and the concerns of small farmers, Jens Spahn, leader of the ruling conservative bloc of Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) in the Bundestag, remains optimistic. "Germans get the best food in human history from the best-trained farmers in human history — at prices that are relatively low in human history," he said.
The Green Week showcases global food trends, sustainable practices and innovations. It runs in Berlin from January 16-25.
This article was originally written in German.
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