Can farmers become oil sheiks? The question sounds strange, but it was meant seriously almost 20 years ago. The Greens had discovered biofuel at the time: fuels made from rapeseed or sugar beets. They dreamed of a new Germany. We should become less dependent on oil deliveries, and cars should emit fewer pollutants. That’s why the Green Environment Minister at the time, Renate Künast, issued the slogan that farmers could become the “oil sheikhs of tomorrow”.

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