the Nazi’s announced a policy of “autarky” which means self sufficiency. they did this for all stuffs, but especially for food which was a huge issue upon their coming to power. to achieve this end they did the usual: merging farms, subsidizing clearing and planting, providing fertilizer, providing cheap loans to farmers, etc.
manpower remained the key issue. the Nazis drafted city workers onto the land, but they were never effective. combined with sending “foreign” workers home, rising industrial and military employment all meant that “autarky” was never achieved. agricultural employment actually dropped by 1.3 mm from 1933-1939 and the difference was not made up by rising productivity.
Germany entered WWII woefully dependent on imports for basic food stuffs:
-30% of fodder for horses (in 1939 still the major transport of the army) was imported
-15% of all food had to be imported, especially grains
-butter and fat severely rationed
-in 1939 coffee and apples rationed
-the 1939 Apple crop went largely unpicked due to labor shortage
-shortages of wheat and rye led the government to outlaw baking bread unless it was a mix of inferior grains
-illegal to buy milk from farmer, all milk had to be sold thru government markets
-in the ruhr, meat was available only once a week
and this was at the beginning of the war. the food issue only intensified.
Hitler had told his generals and his ministers they would have until 1945 to get ready for war, then the French and Brits surprised him, and he went to war way unprepared.
There was no fat because Goering ate it all.