October 1, 2012 Berlin

Today we spent the day with Brigitte Wenzel  who  works for the DVB (The German version of our Farm Bureau).  Brigitte deals mostly with animal welfare issues and was a McCloy Fellow a few years ago.  We first went to a staff meeting with the DVB; we each introduced ourselves and they all knocked on the table to show appreciation.  The rest of the meeting was in German so we don't know what they were talking about. 

Next, we took a tour of the Bundestag, the German capital building. The office building has the look and feel of a prison, mostly plain concrete.  However the Parliament chamber itself is beautiful, mostly made of glass so as to give the appearance of a very open political process.  Under the building you can still see writing on the walls from the Russian troops when they first arrived in Berlin.  The top of the building is a glass dome, so we walked to the top and had a great view of the city.

From there we went to lunch with the agriculture representatives from the US  embassy.  They work largely on trying to open markets to US products.  The biotech issue is huge; most Germans want nothing to do with US food because of it. Interestingly they will buy Biotech crops (SBM) to feed to livestock, but they will not allow the technology to be planted here.  Research plots have to be guarded to prevent people from destroying the plots, because there is such negative feeling about BT.  They are also concerned that American beef is priced too high.  Germans mostly want premium cuts which are in short supply right now and therefore priced very high.  As a result, Germans are turning to Australian and South American beef which may hurt the US beef market in the long run.

We also went to Brandenburg Gate where President Reagan gave his famous speech and said, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall."  Today the wall is down, and many of the young Germans do not remember it, but the signs of it can still be seen in many areas of the city.  It is humbling to realize what happened in this city.  

This marker shows where the wall stood

In the evening, we had dinner with some representatives from the German Young Farmer program.  I learned that they are concerned about similar issues as we are in America.  How can young people afford to start farming?  People are interested in small local farms and food like in America, but they don't want to pay for it.  

Germans make fun of Americans for wanting to drive everywhere. In Germany you walk a lot, and people in the city ride bikes and use public transportation.  In America we drive the car to get across the street.

Another thing I am learning is that the German people don't drink as much water and liquids as we do in America, but they make up for it by drinking a lot of beer.  Everywhere we go people are drinking beer.     

Germany produces a lot of pork and dairy, however they are dependent on imported feed for the animals, mostly soy from the Americas.