The German Agricultural Minister (Klockner) said that she'd shortly have a conversation with the Interior Minister (Seehofer) to discuss options of the farm-worker issue.
Basically....sowing would start up in the next two weeks, and with the virus-ban on farm-workers coming in from Bulgaria and Romania.....it's a major mess developing.
The suggested fix? Well....prepare yourself. Klockner says she wants all of the migrants in Germany to be given some encouragement to take the farm positions instead. If they aren't working and on some government welfare-program....she wants them available in some way for the planting and harvesting season.
Seehofer? He's said in public that he has no problem with this idea.
Forcing them to participate? Hard to say. You might find half of the welfare-foreign cases willing to participate as long as there is some financial incentive attached to this. Lets face it.....it's not a full-time job, and it would probably only last eight to twelve weeks.
My guess is that if they got to keep their normal welfare check (as is) and the 8-to-10 Euro an hour deal flowed....giving them 400 Euro a week (taxed of course), then they'd all step up and appreciate the 'bonus' period.
If this doesn't work? There are quiet warnings that the German farm system wasn't made to handle a lengthy period of shut-down. Certain things....like pork and beef production will continue on....same for wheat and corn. But other crops require additional manpower at times....something is forbidden because of the virus.
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