Who cares about agriculture? Analyzing German parliamentary debates on agriculture and food with structural topic modeling

Abstract

This study employs structural topic modeling (STM) to quantitatively and for the first time analyze parliamentary debates on agriculture and food in the German Bundestag, focusing on the period leading up to the 2023 reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Drawing on data from parliamentary speeches between January 2017 and June 2022, the research aims to understand whether and, if so, how key challenges of the agri-food sector identified by scientists are addressed by the parliamentarians. The paper thus adds empirical evidence concerning the debate on the uptake of research knowledge in politics. It does so by identifying key topics, tracking their temporal evolution, and assessing how party affiliation, constituency, gender, and age of the speakers influence discourse. The results reveal 24 distinct topics, spanning areas such as agriculture-environment interactions, rural development, animal welfare, and economic aspects of farming. Temporal analysis shows shifting priorities over time, with economic issues and sector transformation gaining prominence as CAP negotiations progress. Critically, the findings suggest that parliamentary discourse in Germany aligns with main challenges the agri-food sector faces, albeit with variations influenced by party affiliation, geographical and demographic factors. Overall, this study contributes to a better understanding of parliamentary engagement with agricultural issues and informs policy-making and voter decision-making processes. Its breakdown of how (frequently) certain issues were discussed reveals general trends, but also country-specific challenges, allowing for better comparative policy analysis.