discover the i. subscribe to the documentary on. european agriculture has been an environmental disaster in many parts of the continent it's ruined the landscape climate and biodiversity but the e.u. continues to pour money into a system that's obviously broken. we should be funding organic farming not the over exploitation of nature. the e.u. appears to have no interest in environmentally friendly farm policies is that due

to the influence of powerful interest groups. calling me a lobbyist is a mean spirited allegation look. at you is now negotiating a new multi-year budget will it include farm policies that do more to protect the environment. and. farm fields as far as the eye can see this land all 2600 hectares of it belongs to one of germany's largest farming businesses agro berta. we've come here to talk to the company's managing director or bun huge. it's a successful enterprise optimized for efficiency and production but units doesn't seem to be truly happy in his work. so this one with

a lot of it it's not farming in the traditional sense we use the latest technology and our productivity is extremely high but there's always pressure to do more. but a good one produces 10000 tons of potatoes a year for a company in payment that makes french fries they grow only one kind of potato here and they have to be as large as possible. like most farms burdekin uses fertilizers and pesticides to keep by they also receive 700000 euros a year in e.u. subsidies that helps to keep them competitive in world markets. 11 from that 65 percent of a potatoes and up is finished food products. but we're also competing with frozen french fries from the u.s. if it really is a global markets that we can global market. the e.u. actually promotes the development of these agro giants because the amount of the

subsidy is determined by the size of the farm environmental concerns are often ignored. that's not the case with this small family owned farm located near munich they follow the principles put forward by the by a land organization which promotes organic agriculture practices the farm grows 20 different kinds of potatoes and they don't use artificial fertilisers or chemical pesticides. you hope that you may be learned traditional farming methods then when i've driven my spraying vehicle through the fields for the 10th time i know that i've made the right choice. since while getting the help of you admit this puts it over being with the minister called this it's because i wanted to avoid using chemical pesticides and that's what got me excited about this kind of farming. country as hot zone gets

a 55000 euro annual subsidy from the e.u. and another 50000 from the state of bavaria because he uses organic farming methods . hartzell invests the funds in his farm polls indicate that most germans approve of this kind of agriculture because it helps to preserve the landscape soil and climate. there are only 2 viable business models in e.u. funded agriculture huge conventional farms like bird a clone and organic farms like cuts and. the common agricultural policy dates back to 1957 its original goals included increasing productivity and providing a stable income for farmers today the e.u. provides massive subsidies to help agricultural products. compete effectively in world markets. about 38 percent of the entire budget $58000000000.00 euros per year is spent on financial

support for farmers. $6300000000.00 euros of that total goes to germany. most of that money 5000000000 euros goes directly to farmers based on how much land they own. $1300000000.00 is spent on financial support for world areas only a small amount goes to promote the development of environmentally friendly farming methods. the 8 years agricultural policy rewards big farms like burdick island which is run by or by huge most farms don't turn a profit today one half of europe's total farm land is owned by just under 3 percent of all farm businesses. the e.u.'s top priority is to provide maximum crop yields so that farmers can compete with cheaper produce on the world market there's not much money left to promote organic farming.

the e.u.'s agricultural policy has led to the creation of large tracts of farmland that often lie empty. the use of chemical herbicides like life is it has turned fields into reddish brown deserts. the e.u.'s common agricultural policy may be responsible for killing off large numbers of birds and useful insects. we've come to northwestern germany to meet some environmentalists who are waiting for lap wings to return from their winter migration the birds come here to breed since the 1990 s. the left wing population has declined by nearly 90 percent in this area the environmentalists are concerned about that. staff as does it's clear to me that the fate of the human race is more closely connected to the fate of the last points

than we'd like it to be missed by it's important. to. our ecosystems are becoming more and more unstable he was of the reduction in the left wing population is an obvious symptom about problem any of it you know that. my point is like to breed in fields but about 3 quarters of their nests are destroyed every year by intensive farming methods the environmentalists mark the birds' nests so that they won't be run over by tractors or other machines but the real problem is that there aren't enough insects and larva anymore for the birds to feed on. friend you go up by mr doesn't make fundamental changes in its common farming policy we lose more and more insects on the left wings will disappear. and then the farmers will be hit with court rulings. and other punitive measures. because it's a tie in with full bore that will make their lives even more difficult than 50

lanfear chuffed and in the end we'll have a catastrophe on the hearns boat for farmers and for the environment for the doctor chaffed. intensive agriculture also contributes to climate change for example by converting large areas of forest to farmland germany's federal environment agency says the e.u. should do more to promote green agricultural methods. up to. windsor currently your policies are not sufficiently promote environmentally friendly practices but we believe that farmers who adopt green methods should get a larger subsidy and big farms that don't should get less mostly get to the mice and fishing for veterans. that would be a major turnaround for the e.u. but recent polls indicate that more and more europeans are becoming concerned about protecting the environment it would seem that the german farmers association would

also be interested in promoting green agricultural policies 90 percent of all german farmers belong to the organization. in june 2800 hundreds of farmers and policy experts gathered for their annual convention one important discussion topic was the future of e.u. subsidies. but there was hardly any mention of environmentally friendly agricultural practices. the focus was on preserving the subsidies as they are now. federal agriculture minister. declined our request for an interview but in a speech she defended the farming industry against its critics. i think lout does bite off no one believes that agriculture is exclusively responsible for damaging the climate and the environment the land itself should and allan's i guess

is it stopped i want to make it clear. that a number of different sects contribute to this problem is that those who claim farming are intellectually lazy and are not doing their part to help has moved forward and i the agriculture minister is supposed to represent the interests of all the people but she seems to be particularly close to the agricultural establishment. it's gems of i'm fighting feel i know how you feel and i know you. took no speech went over well she didn't want to rock the boat at a conference like this but why is the farming industry dead set against the proposed restructuring of the e.u. subsidy system. this event was sponsored by a number of corporations that's the 1st clue. what do these companies have to do with german agriculture a new study by the institute for labor and the economy at the university of braman

has come up with some answers. researchers found a number of connections between the german farmers association politicians the agriculture industry the food production sector financial companies and the chemical industry. so since there is a big players here b.s.f. by a crop science and saying get into the institutes experts have documented a total of $560.00 connections skip budiman and they all talk to each other for. the study names of $75.00 companies associations and political parties there's one group at the center is of the german farmers association and. the study indicates that top association officials represent a range of interests besides farming. all. for example association

president joachim rick reed is linked to 18 different companies. this graphic shows all of you what he feeds connections. for example he says on the advisory boards of the or in v.n. surance company. can renton bank germany's development agency for agribusiness through areas into the us and the terms of audits of our game. he's also on the supervisory board of. a corporation that sells various products to farmers like fertilizers and pesticides. feed wears a number of different hats not really sure whose interests he's actually representing. his interests of the fact that. several other top officials of the farmers association have ties to big corporations the companies

that these people represent make good money selling products and services to farmers the association's general secretary ban talk clues can sees no conflict of interest here since it's important to note that all of the companies you just mentioned are owned by farmers. and if they didn't have these kinds of business connections they'd be in real trouble. for. it's a traditional cooperative effort even if some of these organizations have now become corporations. or another form if you knew it. but most of these corporations generate billions in sales and have other business interests besides those of farmers. the farmers association executives benefit substantially from their ties to corporations that sell farmers the products and services they need and the farmers pay for all that with the money they get from

e.u. subsidies so the association has a vested interest in keeping this subsidy system just the way it is. over several decades the farmers association has built up a sophisticated lobbying outwork that allows them to influence the political decision making process earnings public opinion as well in my experience but certain areas are fine for them. it seems as though the association will not be supporting subsidy reform any time soon can the e.u. do anything to help we've come to the european parliament in brussels to attend a session of the agriculture committee the members are due to vote on a proposal to cut some of the farm subsidies. perhaps some of the money would be better spent to promote farming methods that help to protect the environment a majority of the committee members belong to the conservative people's party group

. germany's alba dest has been the party spokesman on the committee for 10 years desk is not only a powerful politician he's also chairman of the board of one of the various largest dairy cooperatives buy on mt we asked him whether he's using his political influence to keep down the prices that the co-op pays to farmers. as only shows will boost calling me a lobbyist is a mean spirited allegation for can we can my constituents have known me since i was a young man i had the best election results in all of bavaria in 2004 when i 1st ran for the european parliament when there were more than 30 parties on the ballot but i won with just over 70 percent of the vote of the people of my district know me and they would reject such allegations of that sort of question. test has also been active in the farmers association for more than 40 years and he's

a member of the parliament committee that certifies the use of pesticides plus he serves on the buy advisory board by voss sells products and services to farmers including pesticides desk doesn't seem too concerned about the deadly effects that these chemicals have on useful insects. well farming methods in my part of the country haven't changed in 40 years ago so why blame farmers now for the decline in insect populations lots of pesticides aren't responsible for this woman to move for 40 years ago 70 percent of the pesticides that we used were highly toxic we don't use those anymore but back then they didn't bother the useful insects so this discussion is hypocritical to me for global. but numerous studies indicate that the use of highly effective pesticides is indeed responsible for much of the decline in insect populations. a few minutes later

deaths and his party colleagues voted against the proposal to reduce the subsidies so the payments will continue for the time being. and there will be no reforms of the e use common agricultural policy before the next european parliament elections. it is so i would rather have this position on the committee than serve as a national agriculture minister because i have more influence here than a minister does if you will if you're not in full swing over it was real not so and by saying that i'm not being disrespectful of the ministers only because it is of they have a difficult and complicated job to do as it always but here i can talk to colleagues from all over europe from all over the world. i can meet with agriculture ministers from britain the us brazil new zealand australia and african countries.

when they pull the wool most of. those countries and others will continue to buy subsidized european farm products maria notional also serves on the agriculture committee and has called for radical policy reforms. to distrust of it there's no law that says we have to focus on international markets and i'm not opposed to trade or exports but our 1st priority should be europe we should take a regional approach. it's absurd for us to export milk to australia and then have australia export milk to us on the side of milk is being dumped on the world market ideas of australian and german dairy farmers aren't making any money and people wonder why we should not export basic food products like milk. to farm. the system which is supported by billions of euros and subsidies appears to be broken and those subsidies are financed by european taxpayers can consumers do

anything to help fix this situation. perhaps they could make different choices when it comes to buying food portion. hudson is the c.e.o. of slow food germany an organization that promotes sustainable agriculture and the use of local products she's brought along some store bought food today and explains why consumers should be concerned about it. this is new to see this flower is very inexpensive. because but it also has lots of heating costs that we'll have to pay because this is the cindy cost for example the week comes from soil that's being ruined because of the over use of fertilizers and pesticides. so the prices we pay at the supermarket may seem cheek but they really not friends with american discount. products are also inexpensive in part because pig feed is cheap

the main reason for that is that it's made from products that are grown on farms that are heavily subsidized by the e.u. . is get. me to come from cakes that have been raised on factoring farms so that they quickly end up weighing 122150. 4 not one to be full of food to kill all the phones use concentrated feed and they completely ignore the basic rules of raising livestock. hudson says that many consumers don't know where their food comes from so they end up supporting an agricultural system that is focused on profit and damages the environment. and slim is alone can't change the situation because the farm policy agenda is set by the politicians as i said on the alive if occur. so we've come to berlin to

talk to some politicians after all any reforms to the e.u.'s farm subsidies have to be approved by the governments of the 28 member states the bundestag. has its own food and agriculture committee. m.p. run not a a member of the green party serves on the committee she was also the federal agriculture minister from 2001 to 2005. he wanted to get going and prodded the committee has been discussing the important issues that the agriculture industry faces some members press the fact that they are farmers but these people don't act like m.p.'s because they make decisions based on business interests and these and go on. and indeed a majority of the agriculture committee members own farms and are members of the farmers association these m.p.'s have the political clout to block any efforts at

reform. says that committee member should not put personal business interests ahead of the public interest she wants the e.u. to develop a new system for allocating farm subsidies. i this just as a template of this public money should be used to finance public services. i believe that a large part of the subsidies at least 15000000000 euros should be invested in a nature conservation fund that farmers could use that would definitely be in the public's best interest because it would help stop the damage to biodiversity and the environment we should be funding organic farming not the over exploitation of nature oh not to work. but only a few of the agriculture committee members agree with curiosity most of them want to keep the e.u. subsidy system just the way it is the situation in the german parliament is almost

identical to the one in brussels. the politicians seem more interested in preserving the status quo instead of protecting the environment the farmers association is also opposed to subsidy reforms. we've returned to the institute for labor and the economy to learn more about the association's lobbying network. do you see as a source that we're trying to find out why serious agricultural reform proposals have been consistently blocked in both the german urns european parliament's and you know or perish and we wanted to get to the bottom of the situation. the body or the political interests that work here and what role if any the loveliest play on lobbyists most of. the researchers came across a little known organization called the forum for modern agriculture. before m

m's to inform the general public about the benefits of agriculture on its website there are no reports about environmental problems factory farms or the extinction of animal species. but we did find an article that justifies the use of glyphosate a controversial herbicide. the farmers association helped to set up the forum. for this form up that has nothing to do with politics predicts 2 of those it simply brings various farming groups under one roof and tries to inform the public about what these groups are doing which i do see you to inform me of. the forums supervisory board includes executives from agro chemical companies like buyer crop science. and the association of farm credit unions a lot of pretty important people are associated with this informational forum.

big and often also we believe that it's an attempt to identify the industry's key policies and then coordinate them with the politician us critic so arguments of. the chairman of the forums board of directors as you walk in route feet the president of the farmers association. members of the advisory board include the head of the federal agency that advices the government on potential health hazards including pesticides. these misguided policies taken to. gether have created a huge agricultural waste land in germany. but there are still some small farms scattered around the country that you sustainable methods for growing crops as part of the effort to protect the environment biodiversity and wildlife.

the broader vien eco complex is located about 50 kilometers northeast of berlin and it covers $1400.00 acres which makes it the largest organic farm in germany the farm aims to restore maintain and enhance ecological harmony the animal feed is 100 percent organic and half of it is grown right on the farm the idea is to maintain a self-contained and self-sustaining enterprise that is compatible with the local environment. yvon most of them fed on we grow our crops and harvest them. and those cups contain new chance that are found in the soil. we also sell some of the grain to bakeries. but we use a lot of it to feed the animals. also have no monitors on and we take them in your compile stead. and then put it on the fields as fed size and sort of the fed up.

they don't use liquid fertiliser here unlike most conventional farmers. the broad having complex also receive subsidies from the e.u. but not enough to make up for the lower crop yields that are common among organic farms. to increase profitability they market their products directly and charge higher prices. still broader vision has shown that organic farming can work on a large scale. i don't blame any farmer for the situation that we're in now they were doing exactly what was expected of them and they cut costs and increased efficiency for charged or not. but here at productivity and we've learned that there are alternative methods and it's incredibly exciting for me to be part of a project that does more than just simply grow crops. it's a tool it's supported cx. e.u.

farm subsidies that encourage environmental protection would be a sound investment because they would benefit both farmers and consumers. above 2 this land as we know it now all the issues sparkle as far as the eye can see. but the climate crisis is swiftly melting them away. with

stressed in consequence and. there's not much time left until the alpine twilight in europe without glaciers. in 75 minutes on g.w. . it's all happening which a bit of the coming. storm link to news from africa the world store link to exceptional stories and discussions can you and will come to the day of an african program tonight from one gemini from the news of easy to taiwan i would say deputed come smash africa join us on facebook t.w. africa.

this is news coming to you live from germany was on migration and asylum one aim is to make it easier to deport more failed asylum seekers now many fears that time could soon be up and they will be forced to leave but why do so many deportations fail also coming up.