Social policy in agriculture

"Social policy in agriculture has an impact on the lives of working farmers and their families."(Federal Minister Ilse Aigner)

With its social policy in agriculture, the BMELV has created the preconditions for the development of an efficient and competitive farming industry. Agricultural social insurance offers farmers and their families financial security in the event of illness, the need for long-term care, accidents at work, reduced earning capacity, age and death of an insured person. A special professional system, it supports the social protection of independent farmers and helps to provide social flanking measures for structural change in the agricultural sector.

The cushioning of the financial consequences of structural change is a task for society as a whole. That's why the Federal Government makes available financial aid of approximately Euro 3.8 billion in conjunction with its social policy in agriculture in 2010.

With continuous reforms, the last being the Act on the Modernisation of Agricultural Social Insurance Law, agricultural social security has been rendered fit for the future.