The conservative pick for German agriculture minister has withdrawn his candidacy after animal rights activists stormed his farm, prompting cross-party condemnation. Günther Felßner, a farming lobbyist who had won the backing of the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU), said his wife was “in fear of life and limb” when activists climbed on to the cattle shed she was in to hang a banner and light smoke-emitting flares on Monday. Felßner said he would withdraw his candidacy as a result of the protest, which politicians have criticised as antidemocratic. The Bavarian conservative leader Markus Söder called it an “attack on rural