Agricultural sectors face rising costs and market competition

Agricultural producers in Europe are facing significant pressures from rising costs, geopolitical uncertainty, and climate fluctuations. According to DLG General Director Dr. Lothar Hövelmann, successful livestock farming now depends heavily on management quality and the ability to adapt to supply chain disruptions, high feed and energy prices, and labor shortages.

In the pork sector, European exports to third countries decreased from approximately 5.5 million tons in 2022 to 4.4 million tons in 2025, according to Eurostat data. Meanwhile, the dairy sector is working to balance production with high input costs. DLG highlighted that top-performing dairy farms have achieved a carbon footprint of 0.92 kg CO2e per kilogram of milk.

In the Czech Republic, the organic food market faces different challenges. Jan Zeman, managing director of Biopekárna Zemanka, noted that local organic producers struggle to compete with large-scale German manufacturers due to a small domestic market and high production costs. While demand for high-quality organic products like vegetables, fruit, meat, and dairy is growing among Czech consumers, the supply in retail stores has not expanded at the same rate.