EPP Germany

Here you will find the latest news, activities and insights from the German EPP community. The network thrives on exchange – regional, practical and committed.

Together we are shaping the future of EPP in Germany – committed, networked and practical.

At the end of September, the German EPP Group invited all its members to its annual meeting and general assembly, where Günther Riedl, as chairman, welcomed more than 50 participants. Following last year's event in Bavaria, Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony in the new federal states were now the destination.

On the first day, participants visited the farm of Leon van Dijck, a member of the German EPP Group's executive committee, in Coswig-Düben. Leon van Dijck, who was born in the Netherlands, presented the development of his sow breeding farm over recent years to EPP members and explained the current situation. He also addressed the many challenges facing pig farms, and sow farms in particular, in Germany as a result of ever-changing legal requirements and regulations. It takes a great deal of time, incurs very high costs and involves lengthy procedures to even be able to meet these requirements.

Peter Heinrichs then explained current developments in pig breeding from the perspective of Hendrix Genetics. The Hendrix Genetics Swine division comprises the Hypor and Danish Genetics divisions.

During dinner, the impressions of the day were discussed further, as well as numerous other current issues relating to pig farming in Germany and Europe, such as the implementation of the new requirements of the Animal Welfare Farm Animal Husbandry Ordinance in sow farms, higher husbandry standards in pig farming and their financing, the new requirements of the TA-Luft (Technical Instructions on Air Quality Control), the ASF situation and its impact on farms and marketing, ever-changing environmental regulations, etc.

The programme was rounded off on the second day with a visit to Reploid, a company near Leipzig that breeds and reproduces black soldier flies. By-products and waste materials are used as feed for the larvae. During the two-week fattening period, the insects or maggots convert these waste materials into proteins and are then dried. The dried larvae are defatted and then marketed as protein meal or insect fat.