Öko-Feldtage (Organic Field Days) 2022

From June 28 to June 30 2022 the third natio­nal Orga­nic Field Days will be held at the Glad­bach­er­hof (agri­cul­tu­ral hol­ding of the Hes­si­an Sta­te) near the town of Vill­mar, whe­re the Uni­ver­si­ty of Gie­ßen ope­ra­tes its insti­tu­te for rese­arch and expe­ri­ments in orga­nic agriculture.
The Orga­nic Field Days pro­vi­de a uni­que com­bi­na­ti­on of prac­ti­ce and rese­arch in orga­nic agri­cul­tu­re and ani­mal hus­bandry. The bien­ni­al event exhi­bits inno­va­tions and dis­cus­ses cur­rent topics with far­mers and repre­sen­ta­ti­ves from poli­tics and business.

The first and the second edi­ti­ons of the Orga­nic Field Days took place in 2017 and 2019. Moti­va­ted by the over­whel­ming suc­cess of the­se events the well-estab­lis­hed coope­ra­ti­on of part­ners behind the pro­ject will con­ti­nue their work in 2022. The FiBL Pro­jek­te GmbH is the orga­ni­ser of the Orga­nic Field Days 2022 and is sup­por­ted by its co-orga­nisers – the Hes­si­an Minis­try of Agri­cul­tu­re, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Gie­ßen with the Glad­bach­er­hof and the Foun­da­ti­on for Eco­lo­gy and Agri­cul­tu­re (SÖL).

The Öko-Feltage as a platform

The nati­on­wi­de Öko-Feld­ta­ge (“Orga­nic Field Days”) are a two-day mee­ting point for orga­ni­cal­ly working far­mers as well as all far­mers inte­res­ted in new methods for envi­ron­ment­al­ly friend­ly agri­cul­tu­re. The event offers an ide­al plat­form whe­re cur­rent topics can be dis­cus­sed with prac­ti­tio­ners and repre­sen­ta­ti­ves from poli­tics and eco­no­my. The so cal­led inno­va­ti­on show demons­tra­tes the cur­rent sta­te of orga­nic far­ming and whe­re it is heading.

Visi­tors can get a broad pic­tu­re about inno­va­tions in agri­cul­tu­ral tech­no­lo­gy, plant cul­ti­va­ti­on, ani­mal hus­bandry and rese­arch. Com­pa­nies, asso­cia­ti­ons and orga­ni­sa­ti­ons pre­sent seeds, crop varie­ties, agri­cul­tu­ral tech­no­lo­gy, inputs, ani­mal feed, sta­ble con­struc­tions, con­sul­tancy ser­vices and much more. Unli­ke “clas­sic” field days in Ger­ma­ny, the Orga­nic Field Days inclu­de per­spec­ti­ves on live­stock far­ming and ani­mal hus­bandry. Com­bi­ned in cir­cu­lar eco­no­my sys­tems the­se are important com­pon­ents of orga­nic agri­cul­tu­re. The Orga­nic Field Days pro­vi­de per­spec­ti­ves on the ent­i­re sys­tem of orga­nic far­ming with inno­va­ti­ve ope­ra­ting con­cepts, cul­ti­va­ti­on sys­tems and modern ani­mal hus­bandry in all its diver­si­ty. The 2019 two-day event was atten­ded by 11.000 visi­tors. One third of the visi­t­ing far­mers worked in the con­ven­tio­nal sector.

Latest news on organic farming

The pro­gram of the Öko-Feld­ta­ge pres­ents the per­fect mix­tu­re of prac­ti­ce and rese­arch and all the latest news on orga­nic far­ming. The latest agri­cul­tu­ral tech­no­lo­gy is on dis­play in nume­rous machi­ne demons­tra­ti­ons of hoes, har­rows, rakes, GPS and came­ra-gui­ded machines.
Many inno­va­ti­on examp­les show pre­sent pro­to­ty­pes and new deve­lo­p­ments. The latest fin­dings on chal­len­ges such as the cli­ma­te cri­sis, eco-bree­ding and ani­mal wel­fa­re are dis­cus­sed in forums by sci­en­tists and prac­ti­tio­ners. In 2019, com­pa­nies, bree­ders, con­sul­tants and uni­ver­si­ties pre­sen­ted over 70 crops reaching from field beans to sugar beet and orga­nic far­ming inputs on 1,200 demons­tra­ti­on plots. Deli­cious culi­na­ry delights from regio­nal orga­nic cate­rers, live music and several oppor­tu­nities for net­wor­king com­ple­te the program.

Evaluation of the Öko-Feldtage 2019

Led by Dr. Bene­dict Jahn­ke, stu­dents of the Uni­ver­si­ty of Kas­sel ques­tio­ned 564 visi­tors and 156 exhi­bi­tors about their expe­ri­ence at the Orga­nic Field Days 2019. 96 % of visi­tors as well as 8 % of exhi­bi­tors are con­tent and up to very con­tent with the event. More than half of the visi­tors are far­mers, of whom more than half (55%) are orga­nic far­mers. The num­ber of con­ven­tio­nal­ly far­ming col­leagues is rising com­pa­red to the pre­mie­re in 2017 and is about one third. The pro­por­ti­on of visi­tors who want to con­vert their farm remains rough­ly the same at 11%. Of the 90 con­ven­tio­nal far­mers ques­tio­ned, 40% are inte­res­ted in a con­ver­si­on, 31% are unde­ci­ded and 29% do not want to con­vert to orga­nic far­ming. Bes­i­des far­mers, repre­sen­ta­ti­ves of asso­cia­ti­ons and orga­ni­sa­ti­ons and stu­dents make up the lar­gest group of visitors.