Farmers block roads in Germany to protest cuts in agricultural subsidy

Berlin — German farmers kicked off a week of nationwide protests by blocking roads with tractors on Monday in response to plans to phase out agricultural subsidies as the coalition government scrambles to fix its finances.

Images showed convoys of tractors and trucks, some adorned with protest banners reading “No farmers, no food, no future,” on German roads in sub-zero predawn temperatures. In Berlin, a line of dozens of tractors blocked the main avenue leading to the Brandenburg Gate.

Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck of the Greens, whose return from holiday last week was disrupted by furious farmers trying to storm the ferry he was on, warned in a video message that farmers’ right to protest could be exploited by fringe groups.

“Calls are circulating with coup fantasies, extremist groups are forming and ethnic-nationalist symbols are being openly displayed,” said Habeck.

Police reports said that roads and highway slip roads were blocked in multiple locations nationwide, causing traffic jams during the morning rush hour.

Farmers have vowed to blockade major traffic and logistics routes for a week, saying that an end to tax breaks will drive farms out of business.

The blockade coincides with a strike called by the train drivers union GDL to take place later this week, potentially snarling the country’s roads and railways from Wednesday.

Joachim Rukwied, the head of German farmers’ association DBV, asked the public for sympathy in an interview published on Monday.

“We do not want to lose the support and solidarity we have received from large parts of the population,” he told Stern magazine, but said the farmers “will not accept the planned tax hikes for the agricultural sector.”

He has also warned against far-right activists using the protests to further their own aims, a concern shared by interior minister Nancy Faeser, who said authorities were monitoring the situation.

A backlash from farmers last week prompted Chancellor Olaf Scholz's coalition, racing to finalise a 2024 budget draft that was delayed by a court ruling, to make unexpected changes, including modifying plans to cut subsidies for agriculture.

Rather than abruptly ending the farmers’ tax break on agricultural diesel, the subsidy will be reduced by 40% this year, by 30% in 2025, and will end from 2026.

The government also dropped plans to abolish the preferential treatment in vehicle tax for forestry and agriculture.

The DBV said the changes were not enough and stuck with plans for protests this week.

The head of the Ifo economic institute, Clemens Fuest, said the burden of the government's tax overhaul fell too heavily on farmers, according to media group RND.

“Just because an industry is perhaps now in a good phase after difficult years does not mean that it is justified to shift such a large proportion of the burden onto such a group,” he was cited as saying at an opposition party meeting on Sunday. 

Reuters