The Farmers’ Association is sounding the alarm: more and more farms are dying in Germany. The number of farms in Germany has been dropping dramatically from year to year for years. Last year alone, 3,500 dairy farmers gave up their farms, and the number of pig farmers fell even more dramatically.
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It No Longer Pays To Be A Farmer
For years now, it has no longer been worthwhile for most farmers to keep their farms. It’s too much work to run a farm, and the profit you make from it is too small. There is also a lack of qualified apprentices who would like to become farmers themselves. As a result, many farmers sell their farms or rent out their stables so that they can get money every month without having to start working there at 3 a.m. themselves.
Large Farms Overrun Small Farmers
The main reason for the small farmers’ low profits is the large farms. In the past, farmers determined how much they could charge for a liter of milk, for example – today, large farms set the price and small farmers have to follow suit if they want to continue selling milk. The only problem is that the costs are so high that the low prices for milk do not bring the money back into the coffers. This is only possible on large farms that can produce cheaply and, above all, automatically. The result is the death of farms. In the next 50 years, there will probably be hardly any small farms left, but only large farms, so that the classic farm will no longer be found in Germany.
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