Overview
- IG Bau and the Initiative Faire Landwirtschaft, which released their annual findings Friday, report 16-hour days, 70-hour weeks, rising asparagus quotas to 14 kilos per hour, and illegal wage deductions that strip pay.
- Investigators documented predatory housing, including a 15‑square‑meter metal container in Hesse billed at about €2,000 per month and nightly charges up to €25 for beds and food, with similar cases found in NRW.
- Official labor checks have plunged, with the Zoll’s financial control unit auditing 839 farms in 2021 but only 274 in 2024, and NRW inspections dropping from 120 to 37 over the same period.
- A rule in force since January lets EU seasonal hires work up to 90 days without German social insurance, which limits sick pay and leaves no pension contributions, and unions say this makes workers easier to exploit.
- EU “social conditionality” lets paying agencies cut or claw back farm subsidies for labor or safety breaches, up to 100% for repeat offenders, and unions want this used as €189 billion in 2023–2027 payments are at stake while farm groups dispute the claims and cite rising costs.