Germany faces drought crisis amid biogas lobby push to lift maize cap

Germany is facing a severe drought, leading Bavaria to officially declare a state of drought emergency. Agricultural reports indicate significant yield losses for maize, with high percentages of farmers in southern, western, and eastern Germany expecting substantial decreases in production due to extreme dryness.

Amid this crisis, the German Maize Committee (DMK) and the Fachverband Biogas have released a position paper titled "Mais im Faktencheck" (Maize in a Fact Check). The organizations are lobbying to abolish the so-called "maize cap" (Maisdeckel), a regulation introduced in 2012 to prevent the over-expansion of maize cultivation for biogas production. The cap limits the proportion of maize and other crops used in biogas substrate.

The legislative debate continues as the cabinet has approved a draft for the EEG 2027, which maintains a limit of 30 percent mass, a reversal from the 2024 Biomass Package that had proposed lowering the threshold to 25 percent.