Agrarkongress

TMG Research supports the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), the German Environment Agency and the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation in the organization of their yearly conference on agriculture, the 'Agrarkongress'.

Held since 2017, the Agrarkongress highlights opportunities to develop pathways for increased environmental protection in agriculture. The conferences have contributed to a broad consensus amongst participants that there is a need for a Geselleschaftsvertrag (social contract) to transition towards agriculture that is fit for the future. An online survey conducted following the 2019 conference revealed that there are already a large number of farmers and initiatives across Germany that are implementing sustainable agriculture at the local level, in the spirit of a Gesellschaftsvertrag.

In this context, TMG Research has conducted a series of regional dialogues to bring a number of these initiatives and farmers together. The workshops provided a platform to discuss both the conditions that allowed the specific initiatives to succeed, as well as what barriers are impeding the broader implementation of successful measures. These insights have highlighted the challenges that a Gesellschaftsvertrag needs to address, as well as procedural requirements for its operationalization.

The results of the regional workshops were presented at the 2020 BMU conference on the theme, 'Agriculture, Environment and agriculture in Dialogue: Building a Green Deal in Agricultural Policy.”