Agriculture Minister Rainer: No immediate food price increases due to drought

The Minister of Agriculture wants to present official harvest data at the end of August. Only then should aid be tailored to farmers affected by the drought. Alois Rainer does not believe that the long dry period will have an immediate impact on food prices.

According to Agriculture Minister Alois Rainer, foods such as bread and meat will not immediately become more expensive due to the drought in Germany. "I don't assume that it will immediately become more expensive, because food prices also depend on many other factors - on the supply chain, on transport, on production," said Rainer on ZDF's "Morgenmagazin".

It is not yet clear how extensive the damage is. Rainer said of the farmers' association's demand for emergency aid, "without reliable data, we can hardly provide help." However, the government is “keeping a close eye” on the consequences of the drought and will “offer tailored help as best it can and as quickly as it can,” he continued. The German Farmers' Association (DBV) will publish a harvest balance on Tuesday.

Rainer wants to present official harvest data at the end of August. The Agriculture Minister told the “Rheinische Post” on Tuesday: “I knock on every door where help is possible.” He also described the "worrying situation on our fields and pastures" to the EU Commissioner for Agriculture and made it clear that in an emergency, Europe will also be called upon.

Regarding the SPD's push to change the constitution in favor of heat protection, the CSU politician said that at the cabinet meeting next week "we will also have the time to discuss this topic." It is “definitely a topic that we need to discuss.” He would then “put his demands from the peasantry on the table.”

Rainer said he would not allow agriculture to be ignored in a heat action plan. “Agriculture is the one that is most affected.” They “produce the most excellent food for us every day.”