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Federal Minister of Food Julia Klöckner as well as Ursula Heinen-Esser and Barbara Otte-Kinast, the Ministers of Agriculture from North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony, today invited to the "Meat Industry Talks" in Düsseldorf.
The focus was on the situation in the meat industry. The leaders agreed there should be improved animal welfare on farms, higher social standards in slaughterhouses, and fair prices in trade.
Julia Klöckner: "The price pressure starts at the meat counter. That's why we're going to consider a ban on meat advertising, based on ethical considerations. And we will rebuild animal husbandry in Germany, promote barn conversions for greater animal welfare. But I think we also need an animal welfare levy on meat and processed meat products. We are also considering supplementing it with a kind of state conversion and retention premium - similar to that for organic farming - for those who ensure greater animal welfare in their barns. This could be an incentive."
Barbara Otte-Kinast: "For Lower Saxony it is clear that we are fully committed to animal husbandry. But only to animal husbandry that complies with environmental, animal welfare and social standards in production and downstream processing. In this way it should pave the way for our agriculture to return to the centre of society. This is precisely why we have further developed the Animal Welfare Plan into a 'Lower Saxony Farm Animal Strategy - Animal Welfare Plan 4.0'. We are now taking a further step by promoting a model region for sustainable livestock farming"
June 26, 2020/ BMEL/ Germany.
https://www.bmel.de
