The Bavarian Farmers’ Association has a new President. The previous deputy prevailed against four competitors in a tight election and now wants to appeal more to young people and work for higher prices.
Herrsching (dpa / lby) – The new Bavarian farmer’s president is called Günther Felssner. The 55-year-old from Middle Franconia, who was previously Deputy President, prevailed relatively narrowly in a runoff election in Herrsching on Friday with 65 out of 119 valid votes, as reported by the Bavarian Farmers’ Association (BBV). There were a total of five applicants for the top of the association with around 140,000 members. Stefan Köhler from Lower Franconia made it into the runoff.
Felßner said in view of rising costs, but only partially rising producer prices: “What has to stop is this selling off of food.” Agriculture should not and cannot be the brake on inflation. You need “fair prices for food” and these are significantly higher than what has been paid so far.
Felssner named the bundling of the producers’ supply as a way of ensuring higher prices, as is the case in the milk sector. It is also important to ensure “truth and clarity”, for example when it comes to the origin of food. That helps German farmers with their high standards.
Felssner was critical of the fertilizer ordinance. Here all farmers would be taken into “kin liability” if a farm in their area made a mistake, he said, and called for exceptions for farms that published their data and proved that they work cleanly. The current regulation is “completely wrong”. We are working to change this.
When dealing with politics, Felssner, who is himself a CSU member, announced that he would not allow himself to be taken in. The political independence of the association is important and he himself will not mix it up. You have to work together constructively but where necessary also show a clear edge.
In addition, Felssner, who, unlike his predecessor, who usually wore jackets, appeared at the election meeting in a blue suit, also wants to appeal more to young people during his five-year tenure. There is a certain deficit here and one must consider installing youth work in the association and going where the youth are. These are the social media but also cooperation with youth associations or organizations in which young people are involved.
Felssner runs a dairy farm in Lauf an der Pegnitz with 100 cows and offspring. He has been involved in the farmers’ association for 20 years. In the past ten years he was deputy to the previous president Walter Heidl and milk president in the BBV. The new vice-president is the district president of the farmers’ association in the Upper Palatinate, Ely Eibisch from Tirschenreuth.
