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Bundesverband Deutscher Milchviehhalter e.V.

BDM e.V.

Politische Vertretung und Vertretung gegenüber Stakeholdern für kostendeckende Milcherzeugerpreise und eine flächendeckende Milcherzeugung.

Lobbying Activity

Meeting with Elisabeth Werner (Director-General Agriculture and Rural Development)

15 Jan 2026 · Discussion about the milk market situation

Meeting with Fabien Santini (Head of Unit Agriculture and Rural Development)

3 Sept 2025 · Commission proposal of 10 December 2024 on the Common Market Organisation Regulation

Response to Simplification of the implementation of CAP Strategic Plans

31 Jul 2025

The German Dairy Farmers Association (= Bundesverband Deutscher Milchviehhalter e.V. / BDM) fully recognises the need for the simplification package and considers it essential. The focus, however, must be clearly placed on simplifying administrative procedures. The current intensity of controls must be significantly reduced, and regional conditions must be better taken into account. We welcome the opportunity to comment on the proposal. The process of applying for agricultural subsidies, the bureaucratic burden associated with it, and the widespread concern among farmers of being penalised for even the smallest irregularities, have led to deep frustration and a loss of trust in political and administrative institutions. However, we view with concern that the simplification package may also lead to the dismantling of meaningful provisions aimed at more ecologically sound agricultural production. As an example, we refer to GAEC 1. The proposed simplifications for farms that discontinue roughage-based livestock farming and convert their permanent grassland into arable land must be reconsidered. The same applies to the proposed full exemption of organic farms from the obligation to preserve permanent grassland. It must be ensured that land currently used as grassland can retain its arable land status permanently. To increase acceptance among farmers for the conservation of permanent grassland, such measures must be accompanied by income-effective remuneration that reflects the significant climate protection services these areas provide. We fundamentally stress the need for fair and income-relevant compensation for the environmental services we farmers deliver. It must be financially worthwhile for farms to provide the public goods that society expects from them. We see an extremely high risk that reducing the ambition level of agricultural payments with regard to environmental, nature, and climate protection could trigger legal challenges and court rulings that might ultimately make it impossible to compensate farmers for delivering such public goods. To even maintain the current level of budgetary support available to farmers in public finances, it is in our view essential to further develop the CAP in a way that is both oriented toward the common good and practical for implementation. What this future-oriented, or so-called "transformative" CAP should look like is outlined in the jointly developed and agreed recommendations of the Future Commission on Agriculture (ZKL) and the Strategic Dialogue on Agriculture. The recently published proposals for the redesign of the EU budget confirm the urgency of these steps. In addition to the question of how agricultural funds are allocated, it is equally important to revise the Common Market Organisation (CMO). The market position of agriculture in relation to buyers of agricultural products must be substantially improved. Moreover, the existing EU agricultural market safety net must be expanded. In times of market crises, it must be possible to restore the balance between supply and demand quickly and effectively. Farmers must fundamentally be given the means to respond in a structured and organised manner to changes in demand, with the corresponding tools for market management under the responsibility of the agricultural sector itself.
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