German pig farming associations call for national sow husbandry program

The four associations state that a patchwork of different state-level support schemes would be ineffective. They add that only a national special program would provide planning certainty and help prevent Germany’s unilateral approach to housing requirements from leading to significant structural changes in sow farming.

National Special Program for Sow Husbandry

With the amendment to the German Animal Welfare Livestock Farming Ordinance (TierSchNutztV) adopted on July 3, 2020, sow farmers in Germany are required to convert mating units to full group housing—providing, among other things, 5 m² per sow—by February 9, 2029, and to transition farrowing areas to free-movement pens with at least 6.5 m² per sow and a maximum of five days of confinement by February 9, 2036.

These requirements go well beyond the standards in the EU’s main competing countries. Both the conversion of mating units and, in particular, farrowing areas require significant investment (nearly €4,000 per sow on average), without the expectation of improved performance or efficiency gains. On the contrary, under current conditions, these measures can often only be implemented by reducing herd size, which may also run counter to the government’s objective of ensuring food security.

The program should uniformly meet the following key parameters across Germany:

1. Access for all sow producers, regardless of business structure, income level, livestock density, or size limits.
2. Participation in the funding program should not, as a general rule, preclude herd expansion.
3. Provision of funding of around €200 million annually until 2036. Within the funding period, the transfer of unused annual budgets to subsequent years is essential.
4. Establishment of a funding rate of around 50%, with the possibility of scaling support depending on the investment volume.
5. The objective of the funding is to preserve the structure of sow farming while implementing the TierSchNutztV (mating unit and farrowing pen requirements). In this context, funding should not be tied to additional conditions, and flexible implementation across individual housing areas and building sections should be allowed.
6. Simple application procedures.
7. Simplification of approval procedures for implementing TierSchNutztV requirements, including necessary modifications to piglet rearing facilities.