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From Gunnar Klehm
Denis Thomas is a pragmatic person. "We're always adapting to new situations," says the 44-year-old farmer. "But this is happening too quickly now." And he's not referring to the current change in the weather.
With his strong hands, the farmer grabs the handle of a pitchfork, pokes it deep into the pile of dry stalks in front of him with a thoughtful expression and pushes it towards the penultimate cow still standing in the large barn in Großdittmannsdorf near Radeburg. The cow gazes at the rare visitors with wide, spherical eyes. It has become quiet in the barn.
All the other stalls have been mucked out and are deserted. Until recently, there were still 200 dairy cows here, munching their hay and mooing their way through the day. But the whole thing became less and less profitable from month to month. "We have now given up milk production after more than 60 years," says Thomas. Wistfulness resonates in his voice. But not only because he likes his animals, but also because it is an admission of failure.
But everything was planned quite differently. The Radeburg agricultural cooperative, of which Denis Thomas is a member of the board, has always found solutions to every problem. The business is economically sound. But the radical cut was necessary to keep it that way.
Help for Ortolan and lapwing
The two barns for the 400 dairy cows in Großdittmannsdorf date back to the time when the LPG was founded in the 1960s. In order to be able to keep up with modern farms in terms of production, a new building was planned. "There were already concrete construction plans, and we were really only discussing the details," says Thomas. Six million euros were earmarked for the construction. A considerable sum for the cooperative, which currently employs 30 people.
One detail was one too many. The new building was to be constructed on an area designated as a European bird sanctuary. Being involved in bird conservation has never been a problem for the company. Together with the local ornithologists, suitable areas were identified that were always left uncultivated so that the lapwing, for example, would have the necessary habitat. The Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (Nabu) awarded the company a sign with the inscription "Swallows are welcome here" for its commitment.
"It's a good collaboration with the agricultural cooperative," says Holger Oertel, deputy head of the Nabu ornithology group in Großdittmannsdorf. For example, the farmers provide equipment for hedge maintenance. This helps the red-backed shrike, whose populations are declining elsewhere. The Ortolan, a brightly feathered songbird, benefits from temporarily uncultivated farmland. It forages on the ground and is considered an endangered species. Despite all efforts, no breeding evidence of the Ortolan has been found near Großdittmannsdorf for several years, says Oertel.
Trade relies on better forms of husbandry
Despite years of commitment, the cooperative should now demonstrate how 16 different bird species can be influenced and protected by the new building. "The expert opinion alone is likely to cost 50,000 to 80,000 euros," says Thomas. That was the result of research. In the case of a European bird sanctuary, the administration's hands are tied. He was told that nothing could be done with compensatory measures.
In the end, bird protection was the deciding factor in burying the new construction project, which had already cost almost a quarter of a million euros to plan. But it was by no means the only reason. "The framework conditions are changing faster and faster," says Thomas.
Until now, the cooperative has produced milk conventionally in the low husbandry form 2, but this no longer has a future. The trade is increasingly relying on improved animal husbandry, at least in husbandry type 3, which would require a new barn to be built in Großdittmannsdorf. But this is not happening. Instead, milk production is being stopped altogether.
SZ Grafik / Gernot Grunwald
The Radeburg agricultural cooperative is not an isolated case. The number of dairy cows in Saxony has been steadily declining for more than 20 years. In 2000, there were still more than 207,000 animals in barns and on pastures, compared to 164,000 in the previous year, a decrease of almost 20 percent.
At the same time, more than half of all dairy farms have given up the branch of farming or the entire farm, according to Saxony's Ministry of Agriculture. Since the turn of the millennium, the number of dairy farms has fallen from just under 1,700 to only 1,040 in the state. And the trend continues to fall.
No more start-ups
Last year, a cooperative in Ehrenberg in Saxon Switzerland gave up milk production with around 200 animals, and in Niederschöna in central Saxony there were also hundreds of cows. A cooperative in Rodau in the Vogtland region has also stopped producing milk.
There are virtually no more start-ups. In any case, the state farmers' association is not aware of any. "The investment costs are high, and in the long term the framework conditions are no longer predictable. Start-ups have a very, very difficult time and need more planning certainty," says Juliane Streubel, the association's advisor for livestock production.
Will milk soon be a rare commodity on supermarket shelves? Of course not. For one thing, each individual cow supplies much more milk than before. "Our production was 12,500 liters per cow per year. That's three times as much as in the 1960s," explains Denis Thomas. Even though the number of dairy cows in Germany decreased last year, the amount of milk supplied to dairies increased to more than 31 billion liters. Most of this goes to consumers in Germany.
In addition, according to Dairy Industry Association (MIV) around one billion liters from foreign producers. In other words, comparatively little. The proportion of fresh dairy products or cheese that goes abroad, on the other hand, is much higher.
Fierce competition on the global market
The top export is cheese. According to the MIV, around 1.36 million tons of cheese were exported. This represents more than 38 percent of total production, including raw cheese previously imported by dairies.
Keeping up with the world market has its price. This only pays off for farms with large livestock numbers, modern milking systems or higher ecological standards. This is precisely why the Radeburgers wanted to invest, as many other dairy farms have already done. However, they failed for the reasons mentioned above.
And at a time when milk producers were achieving record prices. In 2022, conventional milk reached an all-time high of over 53 cents per kilogram. However, as consumers bought less in view of the prices, the price fell again. In 2023 and the first quarter of 2024, however, it was still at an above-average 45 cents.
But that doesn't help much, explains Thomas. Because as the minimum wage and energy prices rise, so do expenses. The price of the important fertilizer calcium ammonium nitrate (KAS) quadrupled at times in 2022. Vehicle manufacturers also turned the price screw sharply. The 250 hp tractor that Thomas was able to buy new for 101,000 euros in 2010 is now being offered for over 200,000 euros. The cooperative could no longer earn that even with its high-performance cows.
Statistically, a dairy cow in Germany produces around 8,500 kilograms of milk per year, which corresponds to around 8,750 liters. In Radeburg it was almost 30 percent more. Accordingly, the dairy cows were in great demand. All of them have now been sold, most of them to Poland. 15 employees had to be made redundant, but according to Thomas, they have all found new jobs. Three trainees can continue their apprenticeship at another company.
Organic products have a future
However, no one at the Radeburg cooperative is giving up in the face of this end. On the contrary. This year, a subsidiary, Bio-Landwirtschaft Dresden GmbH, was founded. The purpose of the company is to gradually manage the agricultural cooperative's grassland organically. After all, that is over 600 hectares.
The organic sector is a growing market. Compared to 2008, sales in the German retail sector have more than tripled. The highest growth rates were recorded by discounters. While Germans spent around 5.8 billion euros on organic food in 2008, this figure had risen to more than 16 billion euros by 2023. This is according to figures from the German Federation of Organic Food Producers.
"Sales are increasing, there is more financial support and it's good for the image of the farm," explains Denis Thomas. The prices for organic products were also more stable. According to the agricultural cooperative, it already has grassland on which neither pesticides nor chemical fertilizers have been applied. This will only be recognized after the three-year conversion, which is accompanied and monitored by the office.
Good cooperation in the village
The agricultural cooperative continues to earn money with the production of meat and energy. The two large digesters of the biogas plant are evidence of this. They supply 34 households, an office complex and a workshop with heat. This now accounts for almost a third of turnover. The collaboration also improves cooperation in the village.
Instead of manure from the farm's own dairy cows, manure is now delivered from farms in the surrounding area. In the two old barns, pipes are now being repaired and the walls whitewashed so that they can be reused, for example for rearing cattle for other farms. The Radeburg agricultural cooperative will leave no stone unturned in its efforts to open up new business areas. Denis Thomas wants one thing from politicians: the framework conditions must not change faster than farmers can react. That is why some of his employees took part in the farmers' protests at the beginning of the year.
