WIMEX Group
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The WIMEX Group is an internationally active German company in the meat and
agricultural industry Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people ...
, based in Köthen, Saxony-Anhalt. With an annual capacity of 435.455 million hatching eggs, it is the largest producer of day-old chicks for chicken fattening in Europe and one of the world's largest suppliers of
broiler A broiler is any chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') that is bred and raised specifically for meat production. Most commercial broilers reach slaughter weight between four and six weeks of age, although slower growing breeds reach slaught ...
chickens of the ''Cobb'' breed. Its
revenue In accounting, revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of goods and services related to the primary operations of the business. Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some companies receive rev ...
in 2021 was €295,158 million. Just under 50 percent of the company's
shares In financial markets, a share is a unit of equity ownership in the capital stock of a corporation, and can refer to units of mutual funds, limited partnerships, and real estate investment trusts. Share capital refers to all of the shares of an ...
are owned by the
PHW Group The PHW Group is a German family business in the meat industry that operates internationally. Its core business is meat processing of poultry. It is the largest company of the poultry industry in Germany and the fourth-largest in Europe. The PH ...
. The family-run group of companies consists of 28 individual companies, the parent company being ''WIMEX Agrarprodukte Import und Export GmbH'' with administrative headquarters in Regenstauf, Bavaria. WIMEX has repeatedly come under criticism. Among other things, the company has been accused of animal cruelty and environmental damage.


History

In 1961, the poultry group ''Lohmann'' (now
PHW Group The PHW Group is a German family business in the meat industry that operates internationally. Its core business is meat processing of poultry. It is the largest company of the poultry industry in Germany and the fourth-largest in Europe. The PH ...
) started up the broiler hatchery ''Brüterei Süd'' in
Regenstauf Regenstauf is a municipality in the district of Regensburg, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the river Regen, 12 km north of Regensburg. Points of interest * Eichmühle Economy The WIMEX Group, an internationally active German conc ...
. Gerhard Wagner came to Regenstauf in the course of this as a field representative of ''Lohmann'' and later became managing director of the hatchery. In 1985, Wagner finally founded the ''WIMEX Agrarprodukte Import und Export GmbH'' 1985 in Regenstauf for the production of hatching
egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the a ...
s. In the 1990s, the company expanded into
Eastern Germany The new states of Germany () are the five re-established states of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) that unified with the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) with its 10 states upon German reunification on 3 October 1990. The new ...
. There, the company invested extensively in agricultural land, making it one of the larger investors in the agricultural land market in the new states of Germany. In 1998, WIMEX took over the distribution of the ''Cobb'' breeding line under the name ''Cobb Germany'' as a
franchisee Franchising is based on a marketing concept which can be adopted by an organization as a strategy for business expansion. Where implemented, a franchisor licenses some or all of its know-how, procedures, intellectual property, use of its busine ...
of the international breeding company Cobb-Vantress (part of
Tyson Foods Tyson Foods, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, based in Springdale, Arkansas, that operates in the food industry. The company is the world's second-largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef, and pork after JBS S.A. It annual ...
). From 2005 onwards, WIMEX expanded into the
Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
. In 2017, WIMEX opened two newly built
hatcheries A hatchery is a facility where eggs are hatched under artificial conditions, especially those of fish, poultry or even turtles. It may be used for ex-situ conservation purposes, i.e. to breed rare or endangered species under controlled cond ...
, in
Elsnigk Elsnigk is a village and a former municipality in the district of Anhalt-Bitterfeld, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member s ...
as well as
Vreden Vreden is a small town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany near the Dutch border. The town is located near the river Berkel. The first mentioning of the town is proven for the year 839. In 1252 Vreden obtained city rights. Demographics Religio ...
. The company's founder Gerhard Wagner presided over the operational management from 1985 to 2019. Since then, the company has been managed by three managing directors: Ulrich Wagner, Leopold Graf von Drechsel and Ralph Weickert. In 2020, WIMEX founded the joint venture ''WIMEX & Friends Energy GmbH & Co. KG'' with the ''Freitag Group'' for the construction of photovoltaic systems on stables. In March 2021, H5N8 avian influenza broke out at a WIMEX farm in
Nittenau Nittenau () is a municipality in the district of Schwandorf, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the river Regen, 18 km southeast of Schwandorf, and 24 km northeast of Regensburg Regensburg or is a city in eastern Bavar ...
, Bavaria. As a result, around 52,000 animals were culled by gathering them in containers and subsequent CO2 flooding. A restricted area was established around the WIMEX farm, and restocking of the barn was officially prohibited for 21 days. It remained unclear whether the virus was introduced via a wild bird, due to poor hygiene, or through contaminated feed.


Shareholders

The largest shareholder, with a stake of 49.25%, is the ''Wagner Family Foundation'' based in Regenstauf.List of shareholders of WIMEX Agrarprodukte Import und Export GmbH. In: European e-Justice Portal, Dezember 19, 2012. The PHW Group, the largest company in the German poultry industry, is the second-largest shareholder, with a stake of 48.76%. The other shares belong to WIMEX Agrarprodukte Import und Export GmbH itself as well as to the founder Gerhard Wagner (0.49%).


Structure

The poultry division makes up the largest business unit with €215,998 million and 73.18% of total sales. In addition, the company is active in agriculture (€78.317 million, or 26.53%) and
fodder Fodder (), also called provender (), is any agricultural foodstuff used specifically to feed domesticated livestock, such as cattle, rabbits, sheep, horses, chickens and pigs. "Fodder" refers particularly to food given to the animals (including ...
production (€0.843 million, or 29%).


Poultry

Poultry is the core business area of WIMEX with a highly developed
vertical integration In microeconomics, management and international political economy, vertical integration is a term that describes the arrangement in which the supply chain of a company is integrated and owned by that company. Usually each member of the supply ...
: the company keeps grandparent as well as parent stock, operates hatcheries, sells day-old chicks and fattens chicken itself, produces feed and processes it in its own feed plants. For grandparenting, WIMEX has 36 farms in Germany, producing 10 million chickens of the Cobb breed annually. For parenting, the company runs 97 farms. To hatch the hatching eggs, the company runs a number of hatcheries. Day-old chicks are marketed internationally. Important customers are the PHW Group, Plukon and the Sprehe Group. The company also operates chicken fattening plants. The 6 fattening facilities have a capacity for 830,790 chickens and produce 8 million broilers annually. WIMEX has a 40.83% stake in ''Cobb Espanola SA'' and a 50% stake in ''Cobb Russia''. ''Cobb Russia'' supplies Russia's largest poultry meat producer Cherkizovo, among others.


Agriculture

WIMEX owns more than 8000 hectares of arable land for feed cultivation using conventional farming methods. Most of the cultivation is carried out by the subsidiary Agrargesellschaft Wulfen mbH. The produce, mainly grain and corn, is used for the group's internal feed supply. Furthermore, WIMEX cultivates vegetables on 800 hectares. WIMEX markets the produce, including radishes and carrots, under the brand ''Bördegarten Gemüse''.


Other activities

Managing director Gerhard Wagner was president of the lobby organisation ''Zentralverband der Deutschen Geflügelwirtschaft'' (Central Association of the German Poultry Industry, ''ZDG'') from 2001 to 2011. From 2011 to 2016, managing director Leopold Graf von Drechsel was president of the ZDG and on the executive committee of the ''Arbeitsgemeinschaft Deutscher Tierzüchter'' (Association of German Animal Breeders).


Awards

WIMEX founder Gerhard Wagner received the
Federal Cross of Merit The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...
in 2013 for his contribution to the integration of the two German states after
reunification A political union is a type of political entity which is composed of, or created from, smaller polities, or the process which achieves this. These smaller polities are usually called federated states and federal territories in a federal governmen ...
.


Controversies


Environmental damage

WIMEX has repeatedly been accused of being responsible for environmental damage due to high ammonia emissions. According to the
Heinrich Böll Foundation The Heinrich Böll Foundation (german: Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung e.V., HBS) is a German, legally independent political foundation. Affiliated with the German Green Party, it was founded in 1997 when three predecessors merged. The foundation was ...
's ''meat atlas'' (''Fleischatlas''), WIMEX was one of the largest emitters of ammonia in
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; nds, Mäkelborg-Vörpommern), also known by its anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ranks 14th in pop ...
, contributing to the acidification of soils, the overfertilization of groundwater and the formation of health-damaging particulate matter. In 2017, the research organization Correctiv published a data analysis according to which the nitrate content of the groundwater around the WIMEX farms in and around Baasdorf exceeded the limit value by almost double.


Animal cruelty

In 2010, ARD magazin ''Report Mainz'' broadcast footage published by the animal rights organization PETA of a parent-animal farm in Natenstedt, Lower Saxony, which showed chickens being kicked and thrown several meters against walls. The parent-animal farm was a WIMEX contract producer, and the buyer of the hatching eggs was the PHW Group subsidiary Wiesenhof. Peta criticized the conditions as massive
animal welfare Animal welfare is the well-being of non-human animals. Formal standards of animal welfare vary between contexts, but are debated mostly by animal welfare groups, legislators, and academics. Animal welfare science uses measures such as longevit ...
violations. The PHW Group admitted that the recordings showed
animal cruelty Cruelty to animals, also called animal abuse, animal neglect or animal cruelty, is the infliction by omission (neglect) or by commission by humans of suffering or harm upon non-human animals. More narrowly, it can be the causing of harm or su ...
, the conditions were inexcusable and not compatible with the animal welfare guidelines for parent animal farms. According to PHW Group, these were individual cases, the company had drawn personal consequences. In 2016, the television magazine
Panorama A panorama (formed from Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography, film, seismic images, or 3D modeling. The word was originally coined in ...
broadcast footage published by the animal rights organization Animal Rights Watch (ARIWA) of animal farms run by leading officials of German agricultural associations. Among them were parent-animal farms run by WIMEX, whose CEO Graf von Drechsel was president of the ''Zentralverband der Deutschen Geflügelwirtschaft'' at the time. ARIWA spoke of massive animal welfare violations. Von Drechsel confirmed that the footage came from WIMEX farms and that back and shoulder injuries had been poorly treated. In 2017, the television magazine Frontal 21 and Spiegel Online reported on recent footage published by ARIWA from five WIMEX parent animal farms in Baasdorf, Rosefeld, Wettin-Löbejün, Wettin, and Pilsenhöh. The footage showed featherless chickens with festering wounds as well as chickens lying dead on the floor. The footage also showed animals being killed in a manner contrary to animal welfare by having their necks twisted. ARIWA also criticized the fact that fodder was only available for one hour a day and that water was not continuously available either, which led to the sensation of hunger given the animals were bred for rapid weight gain. Michaela Dämmrich, official veterinarian and animal welfare officer of the state of Lower Saxony, classified parts of the recorded conditions as animal welfare violations and described the husbandry system as inappropriate for animals. WIMEX stated that it took the accusations very seriously, but could not provide a detailed assessment.


Subsidies

In 2017, the investigative journalism organisation
Correctiv The CORRECTIV (or CORRECT!V) is a German nonprofit investigative journalism newsroom whose stated goal is "to give citizens access to information." With about 20 staff members, CORRECT!V is the only nonpartisan, nonprofit investigative cente ...
published research on how many subsidies WIMEX receives through its various subsidiaries and then cross-referenced the findings with data on pollutant emissions from the farms. Correctiv criticized that WIMEX receives public subsidies in large amounts, but at the same time harms the common good in the form of factory farming as well as environmental pollution. In 2018, Der Spiegel reported that WIMEX had received around €275,000 in EU agricultural subsidies the year before and criticized the fact that the payment of the money was not linked to environmental or animal welfare requirements and that WIMEX did not have to pay anything back despite documented misconduct.


Landgrabbing

According to the Johann Heinrich von Thünen Institute, WIMEX is one of the major investors in the agricultural land market in the new states. The Arbeitsgemeinschaft bäuerliche Landwirtschaft criticized the actions of WIMEX and other investors as ''East German land grabbing''. The yearbook ''critical farming report'' (''Kritischer Agrarbericht'') registered WIMEX in a list of agro-industrial large-scale landowners that would destroy many times more farm jobs and endanger agricultural structures.


Food waste

WIMEX has been accused of food waste in vegetable production by local residents. Truckloads of fresh vegetables were dumped and plowed under in the fields instead of being marketed or given to those in need. WIMEX defended the practice by saying that it would be nothing unusual and resulted from high specificaions by the purchasing retail chains.


Protests

Animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the sa ...
and
environmental activist The environmental movement (sometimes referred to as the ecology movement), also including conservation and green politics, is a diverse philosophical, social, and political movement for addressing environmental issues. Environmentalists adv ...
s have repeatedly protested against new construction projects pursued by WIMEX. Regarding a planned construction in Cochstedt with a capacity of 80,000 animals, WIMEX announced in June 2016 that it would not pursue the project due to ongoing protest from the public.


References


External links

* {{Coord, 51, 42, 33.0, N, 11, 58, 51.00, E, type:landmark, display=title Poultry companies Intensive farming Animal food manufacturers German companies established in 1985 Companies based in Saxony-Anhalt Köthen (Anhalt)