People in Western Europe live in growing fear. Some countries plan to raise piped water prices to force people to use less, elsewhere it's the gas supply shortages that keep people, experts and politicians in panic. Although the food industry is in deep trouble, some countries have yet to add it to the list of crisis-hit sectors.

Green party politicians and pundits all over Europe have come up with hair-raising ideas. Most recently, Swedish politician Margareta Lindgren proposed that the price of water use should be raised in order to prevent people from wasting water. According to a similar proposal, households should flush their toilets in an alternative way, using dirty dishwater for this purpose.

Germany has also seen a number of radical proposals and drastic decisions emerge, mainly because of the energy crisis and the ensuing inflation that are putting the country under increasing pressure. A growing number of cities have decided to partially limit their water and electricity consumption. Workplaces are being advised to bring back remote working to save the energy used for traveling back and forth to the workplace. A good number of companies have already indicated that if energy prices continue to rise, they will have to lay off some employees.

Some municipalities are planning to drastically reduce room temperatures in public buildings and to periodically switch off the lighting of public spaces. Even fountains could be turned off before long. According to forecasts, there will be cities where the annual energy costs will be 80 per cent higher in 2022 than in 2021. One of these is Augsburg in Bavaria, where even the idea of switching off traffic lights has been considered as an option.

Bavaria is facing growing problems, with the actors of the food industry not predicting anything good for the upcoming few months. If Germany is forced to economise on gas, great many businesses will be directly affected, including food industry companies. Perhaps it’s diary industry that will need to fight off the biggest of challenges, but it won’t be long before ordinary citizens will also face the problem.

„12 hours after they turn off the gas, there won’t be anyone to collect the milk from the farms, and a few days later there won’t be any diary products on supermarket shelves,”

Günther Felssner, deputy president of the Bavarian Farmers’ Association said, adding that „food supply is systemic and more important than heating. Regardless of turning the temperature up or down with a degree in people’s homes, if they have nothing to eat, it’s a big problem.”

Those active in the sector complain that the government does not consider the operation of dairies critically important, because currently they only consider the healthcare and energy sectors as part of vital infrastructure.

„I don’t want to call farmers up in the autumn and explain that we can’t collect the milk any more and they should spill all they have into the dung pit. Because this is the consequence of switching off the gas.”

Bernhard Pointer, the managing director of Berchtesgadener Land Dairy has said, adding that Bavarian dairy farmers are facing a serious crisis.

Cheese production, for instance, also appears to underscore the significance of Bavarian dairies. Bavaria produces around one million tonnes of cheese each year, almost half the total production in Germany. The export of dairy products is also key. Bavaria exports dairy products worth around 3 billion euros per year, data published by the Bavarian State Institute of Agriculture suggest.

The affect of energy prices can also be felt in other areas. The Playmobil FunPark in Zirndorf and the neighbouring hotel will remain closed in the 2022/23 season. The company blames the huge increase in heating costs and the uncertainty around gas supplies. They will shut down the business in early November, the end of the outdoor season, and will only reopen in the spring of 2023. Organisers have cancelled every event planned for the winter.

According to the German government, the country’s gas storage facilities should be filled up to a minimum of 90 per cent to ensure smooth gas supply throughout the winter. Currently, the facilities are at 60 per cent, but Germany is witnessing a dwindling of its incoming gas supplies. At the same time the government has launched a campaign to reduce general gas consumption and called on people to save as much energy as possible during the summer.