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Status: 03.12.2020 09:28 am
The conflict over fair producer prices between farmers and retailers is on the move: After days of blocking Lidl’s warehouses, the discount chain is now looking for ways to support farmers.
The director of the Schwarz Group, Klaus Gehrig, to which Lidl and Kaufland belong, has written to the other large retail chains, to Agriculture Minister Julia Klöckner (CDU) and to representatives of trade and agriculture. According to Lidl, he calls for an “emergency summit” to initiate concrete measures to help farmers.
Gehrig calls for a joint approach
Consequently, Gehrig emphasized that only a joint approach to production, processing, trade and politics could bring a solution. To improve the situation of farmers, he suggested looking for pragmatic and non-bureaucratic solutions. Gehrig showed sympathy for the farmers’ protest earlier in the week. But he also made it clear that warehouse and branch campaign blockades must remain the exception. “Prolonged lockdowns increase the risk of having to destroy undelivered food. Nobody cares,” explained the manager.
Cloppenburg: farmers are on the phone with Gehrig
From Sunday to Tuesday evening, farmers blocked several Lidl stores with their tractors, including in Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The “Earth creates connections” movement called for the campaign. One of the biggest actions took place in front of the central warehouse of the discount store in Instead, Cloppenburg. About 250 farmers called Gehrig over the loudspeaker on Tuesday. In the conversation, according to the farmers, he promised to guarantee in writing that he would reach out to the other discount store giants in the coming days.
Farmers speak of partial success
Farmers did not see the compromise as a breakthrough, but at least as a partial success in the fight for fair prices. In exchange for the guarantee, they ended the blockade of the Lidl warehouse. The protesters returned home Tuesday evening, said Anthony Lee, spokesman for the action alliance “Land Creates Connection”, NDR 1 Lower Saxony. At the same time, however, he warned: if there is no concept or if the offers do not attract farmers, the fight will become even fiercer. Then the warehouses of all discount stores in Lower Saxony would be blocked from the weekend.
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Problems with the letter from the retail chains to the Chancellor
The background to the protests was a letter that the main German retail chains had sent to Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU). In it, the top executives of the companies Edeka, Rewe, Aldi and the Schwarz Group complained about the declarations of the Federal Minister of Agriculture, Julia Klöckner (CDU). It recently launched a bill to better protect smaller farmers and suppliers from price pressure and unfair practices from retail giants, such as late payments and short-term cancellations. Supermarket chains complained that Klöckner had drawn a distorted image of the company.
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