News African Swine Fever
German fencing against AVP brings discussion
The German state of Brandenburg is concerned that the African Swine Fever will still be able to cross the border despite the fence. The Landesbauernverband Brandenburg therefore demands a permanent fence and environmental organizations are strongly against this.
At the end of 2019, Germany installed a 120-kilometer-long movable fence on the border with Poland to prevent the introduction of the African Swine Fever. The disease has now broken out on a Polish company, a stone's throw from the border with the federal state of Brandenburg. The agricultural organization in Brandenburg therefore advocates a permanent fence, but environmental organizations do not agree.
No fixed fence
The German Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation (BUND) has announced that it is not interested in a fixed fence. According to spokesman Carsten Preuss, the fence at the border with Denmark shows that a fixed fence also has disadvantages. In this way the animals can injure themselves and their habitat is interrupted. He sees a fixed structure as a 'significant disruption of the ecosystem'.
According to Carsten, the BUND is more in favor of taking preventive action by shooting boars. The wild boar population in Brandenburg is too large and causes a lot of damage to fields and crops, among other things. In addition, the BUND also proposes to grow less maize, as it is the staple food and provides cover for swine.
Also from a legal point of view, a fixed fence is not an obvious solution. There are many protected areas along the Polish-German border where construction is prohibited. Landowners also have to agree first as the fence would run through different farmlands.
Pork price drop
The fear of a price fall on the German pig market as a result of ASF has now been overtaken by the corona crisis. The German VEZG quotation has been in free fall since March, the price is now 42 cents lower and is worth €1,60 per kilo. As a result, the promising forecasts that the German pig farming sector adhered to are no longer feasible.
The market does not seem to have bottomed out yet. The situation worsens every day and there are still slaughterhouses that close their doors, which puts considerable pressure on the pig market.
Jorine Cosse
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