Social policy in agriculture

Agricultural social security policy is a creative, target-oriented policy for the benefit of active farmers and their families which helps to establish the conditions for developing an efficient and competitive agricultural sector.

The agricultural social security system provides farmers and their families with financial protection in cases such as illness, need for long-term care or accidents at work. As a special profession-based system, it is uniquely focused on providing self-employed farmers with the best possible social protection and on offering welfare support to cushion the impact of structural change in agriculture.

The cushioning of the financial consequences of structural change is a task for society as a whole. For this reason, the Federal Government provides financial assistance within the framework of agricultural social policy (about 4.2 billion euro in 2021). Ongoing reforms are being carried out with the objective of making agricultural social insurance sustainable as an independent social security system tailored to the needs of self-employed farmers.

Overview of topics

Agricultural health insurance

The Social Insurance Fund for Agriculture, Forestry and Horticulture (SVLFG) implements the farmers' health insurance. It has been in place since 1972 for entrepreneurs in the agricultural, forestry and horticultural sectors and their families. The  Second Act on Farmers’ Health Insurance (KVLG 1989) provides the legal basis for this.

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