• German Minister of Agriculture Alois Rainer warns of a crisis in the agricultural sector due to drought, announcing a €1 billion aid package to support farmers.
• Rainer stops short of declaring a "disaster of national proportions," but emphasizes the need for financial assistance to ensure the survival of farms and food security in Germany.
• Disappointing harvests, particularly in the northern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, have led to a 7.3% decrease in cereal production and a 25% drop in rapeseed yields, prompting the need for tax relief and fertilizer subsidies.

Germany's Minister of Agriculture, Alois Rainer, has warned that the damage caused to the German agricultural sector by the drought constitutes a crisis of national significance.

Speaking in Berlin on Wednesday, he said he intends to provide financial support to agricultural businesses totalling €1 billion ($1.16 billion).

The aid package is designed to enable farmers to access low-interest loans without bureaucratic red tape.

However, Rainer did not formally declare a "disaster of national proportions," as was the case with the 2018 drought or the 2021 floods. Only in those circumstances does the federal government provide financial assistance alongside the federal states to compensate for the damage.

Nevertheless, Rainer does not wish to forgo support for the agricultural sector entirely. "If the very survival of our farms is under long-term threat, we cannot simply carry on as usual," the minister explained. Farmers must remain able to operate to ensure food security in Germany, he said.

There are also to be tax relief measures and targeted fertilizer subsidies.

The background to these measures is the harvest, which has been disappointing in many places due to the drought-stricken summer.

The cereal harvest fell by 7.3% compared with the previous year to around 37.4 million tonnes. In the northern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania - the largest rapeseed-growing region - yields per hectare actually fell by around 25%.

Rainer also pointed to rising production costs - primarily due to the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, which he said mean "The economic survival of our farms is at stake."