In dialogue with agriculture

"There is a need to talk," emphasises Lea Fliess from the Forum Modern Agriculture at the opening of the ExperienceFarm. Hall 3.2 offers plenty of opportunity for this. In addition to farmers, machine manufacturers and food initiatives will also be providing answers to pressing questions such as climate protection, animal welfare and biodiversity.

When Piju Niemeier talks about his work in the potato field on his farm in the district of Lippe in North Rhine-Westphalia, the young farmer is able to dispel many prejudices. At the Forum Moderne Landwirtschaft stand, he explains why plant protection products are necessary in moderation, but that healthy soil is also a prerequisite for a good harvest - on which he as a farmer depends. As an agricultural scout, he and his colleagues will be on hand throughout Grüne Woche to answer visitors' questions and provide an insight into his work. The main topic this year is soils.

High-calibre opening

The need for dialogue between urban and rural populations, between politics and agriculture, between consumers and producers was confirmed by Lea Fliess, Managing Director of the Forum Moderne Landwirtschaft, at the opening of the ErlebnisBauernhof on Friday. Among the guests were Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir, Berlin's Governing Mayor Kai Wegner, Farmers' President Joachim Ruckwied and EU Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski.

In fact, there is hardly a better place to exchange ideas than the Adventure Farm. New this year is the offer for school classes to bake bread at the i.m.a. stand. The association provides information about agriculture. This year, it has teamed up with the bakers' guild. "The children learn about the process from grain to bread," explains project coordinator Tobias Wilke. "In collaboration with the show bakery, they then make their own bread."

Getting to know each other

Just a few metres away are the rural women. They are clearing up prejudices in a "cliché bingo". "Not all rural women work in agriculture," clarifies Corinna Berking. She works in aviation herself, but lives in the countryside and would like to achieve better healthcare through the rural women, for example. She and her fellow campaigners also want to strengthen the voices of women in local politics.

Agricultural scout Piju Niemeier also practises talking to each other on her farm. School classes visit regularly. He invites the neighbourhood to farm parties and has even set up a WhatsApp group to let residents know when noisy work or slurry application is imminent. "Since then, the neighbourhood has worked much better," he says. And what works on a small scale should ultimately also work on a large scale. The adventure farm in Hall 3.2 makes its contribution to this.