Cows, cuddly pigs, and tricky questions: AgrarScouts in action

Wearing green vests, Thorben Mahlstedt and Björn Schwarz from Schleswig-Holstein welcome interested guests to the ErlebnisBauernhof (adventure farm) in Hall 3.2. As agricultural scouts, they answer questions from interested visitors about agriculture, such as those asked by a little girl. “She wanted to know whether milk with 1.5 or 3.5 percent fat content comes from different breeds of cows,” says agricultural scientist Thorben Mahlstedt, who works in an expert office in Norderstedt. Not a bad idea – and a good introduction to talking about the processing steps milk undergoes after milking.

For ten years, the AgrarScouts from the Forum for Modern Agriculture have been promoting communication between urban and rural areas. People from agricultural professions provide insight into their work, welcome school classes, and show how beautiful but also complex working in and with nature can be.

A look inside the barn

Animal welfare is an important concern for many visitors. To illustrate how cows, pigs, and chickens live, the AgrarScouts stand has barn equipment on display, including a large brush shaped like an oversized kebab skewer. “It allows the animals to scratch themselves in places they can't reach,” says Björn Schwarz, a trained farmer who works as a farm manager and runs his own farm as a sideline. “In the pasture, a tree or a fence would fulfill this function.”

There are toys on a string for three pink cuddly pigs behind a fence. The station gets trade fair visitors talking about housing types and barn sizes, as well as the laying nests for hens with a separate egg compartment. “We also see it as our job to raise awareness of local products,” says Thorben Mahlstedt. “Especially in light of foreign competition, people should know about the high standards we adhere to here in Germany.”

This also applies to plant protection. “Very few people know that there are strict regulations governing the use of these chemicals, including a requirement for farmers to obtain expert certification,” says Hanna Krautscheid, who manages the AgrarScout Network South. In the digital game “Mission Future Land,” guests can practice managing a farm that has to remain profitable despite heavy rainfall and other natural events.

For the AgrarScouts, the Grüne Woche is also a good opportunity to network with each other. Most only stay for two to three days, so the team mixes up every morning and there are always new people to talk to.

In total, more than 800 farmers are involved in the AgrarScout network. The network is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. Lea Fließ, managing director of Forum Moderne Landwirtschaft, says of the anniversary: “We knew that one in three people in Germany had never spoken to a farmer. We wanted to change that. In ten years, we have had hundreds of thousands of conversations and reached millions of people.”