Farm President Rukwied: "Without gas, no milk, no butter, no yoghurt"

The President of the German Farmers' Association, Joachim Rukwied, has warned of a dramatic food shortage in Germany if agriculture is not given priority in gas distribution.

"Without gas, no milk, no butter, no yoghurt," Rukwied told the Düsseldorf "Rheinische Post" on Friday.

“We need gas prioritization for the whole agri-food sector.”

The development and the declaration of the alert level of the gas emergency plan made him very concerned, said Ruckwied.

“To ensure stable harvests, the availability of fertilizers is essential.

We need gas to produce nitrogen fertilizer.” If this were to become limited or disappear, “yields would immediately drop by 30 to 40 percent.”

Rukwied called on the federal government to make a course correction.

"Food security is not a matter of course," said the farmers' president.

Last week, Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) declared the second crisis level in the gas emergency plan, the so-called alarm level, because of the reduced Russian deliveries.