Farmers in Germany, Europe and worldwide must be able to make a living from their work! But unfair trade practices and prices are jeopardizing the future of agriculture. Whether grain and dairy farmers in Germany or cocoa and coffee producers in Ghana and Brazil – many of them cannot make a living from their work. They cannot invest in their businesses to make them more sustainable, more productive and therefore fit for the future. They cannot pay people who work on their farms a living wage.
Unfair prices jeopardize livelihoods along local and global supply chains.
This market failure can no longer be tolerated. A legal framework is needed that guarantees farmers fair prices that cover the costs of sustainable production. With the reform of the European Unfair Trading Practices Directive (UTP Directive) due this year, there is now an opportunity to create an effective safety net for farmers – in Europe and worldwide.
So that agriculture has a future again!
We call on Federal Minister of Agriculture Alois Rainer to make a firm commitment to ensuring that fair, cost-covering prices are paid by all trading partners along the entire supply chain. Fair prices mean that they cover the costs of sustainable production and thus enable a living income and investments. The payment of unfair prices must be included in the UTP Directive as an unfair trading practice.
Only with a fair income can farms and ranches be set up for the future. Agriculture is facing enormous challenges: Climate change, loss of biodiversity and increasing demands on quality and sustainability require high levels of investment – in increasing productivity, organic farming and agroecology. If no changes are made, the decline of farms will continue unabated. In Germany, the number of farms has halved within a generation! And the trend is continuing. This means we are losing the backbone of agriculture – both in this country and worldwide.
Fair prices for agricultural products are an investment in the future: they ensure diversity and resilience in agriculture and reduce the risk of supply shortages and insecure supply chains.
Sign the appeal now!
Join in
Everyone is invited to sign the appeal by 17.09.2026, forward it or collect signatures on paper themselves. Lists and further information are available here at open petition. Flyers and stickers are available from Fairtrade Germany here on the petition page.
Those interested in cooperating with the appeal can contact the Fairtrade Germany coordinators directly here.
The common goal
Together with Fairtrade and many co-initiators, the GNF is collecting votes for fair agriculture until the end of September. As part of Fair Week, we are presenting the appeal to Federal Minister of Agriculture Alois Rainer.
The initiators
Fairtrade GermanyArbeitsgemeinschaft bäuerliche Landwirtschaft e.V. (AbL), Bischöfliches Hilfswerk Misereor e.V., Christliche Initiative Romero e.V. (CIR), Deutsche Umwelthilfe e.V., FEMNET e.V., Forum Fairer Handel e.V., Global Nature Fund (GNF), Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung e.V., INKOTA-netzwerk e.V., Katholische Landvolkbewegung Deutschland, Naturland – Verband für ökologischen Landbau e.V., Oxfam Deutschland e.V., Weltladen-Dachverband e.V.
The initiators of this appeal clearly distance themselves from hatred, violence, racism and discrimination and stand together for peace, justice and tolerance.
