Watching personalities and celebrities find attraction in farming is nothing new. Jeremy Clarkson and his eponymous farm on Amazon Prime has fast become one of the most well-known examples, but in every country there’s someone who’s done the same.
In Slovenia and Serbia it’s Samo Login who’s put his fortune into ‘it’ – farming – and his money where his mouth is. Selling his video game company for $1billion, the tech entrepreneur next established a 4,400-ha farm enterprise in Serbia – somewhere he hopes will act as a demonstration farm and proving-ground for sustainable crop production.
LoginEKO says it’s addressing the challenges of modern food production by developing and sharing sustainable, regenerative farming practices to encourage their wider adoption, and attempting to prove that such practices can work at scale.
Arguing that traditional agricultural methods – what it refers to as conventional agriculture – prioritises short-term yield gains at the expense of long-term sustainability, and that climate change may make some croplands uncultivable, LoginEKO is focusing on developing its own farming methodology.
Now, as part of that approach, LoginEKO is inviting IFAJ members within Europe to visit the farm and explore for themselves its research-based strategy for sustainable farming. Centred on organic principles, but livestock-free, its philosophy leans heavily on legumes in a multi-year, low-input, low-till rotation system.
The visit, scheduled for 12-14 May, will also demonstrate – unsurprisingly for a farm established by a tech entrepreneur – its agtech tools and in-house farming software that variously combines AI, drones, telemetry and weather data. The system supports all operations on the farm, from planning, through field activities, to processing and storage.
Attendees will see how the system incorporates data from in-house field trials, with current projects including crop selection and rotation, strip- and inter-cropping, and biopesticides. LoginEKO has extended use of the software to other farms in the region for testing, ahead of its intention to make it publicly available, for free.
The visit, for a group of up to 12 IFAJ members from Europe, should appeal to those with interests not just in organics and regenerative farming but more widely in sustainable crop production. LoginEKO will cover costs: flights to and from Belgrade, accommodation and transport within Serbia.
The trip organiser, IFAJ secretary general Adrian Bell, is also working with IFAJ’s Serbian guild, AGROPRESS, to add more depth to the visit. This may include a meeting with Serbia’s Minister of Agriculture, Prof. Dr. Dragan Glamočić, or senior Ministry representatives, to provide broader insight into Serbian agriculture, context and current priorities, as well as further visits to farm and processing facilities.
Interested? Contact Adrian at adrian.bell@agromavens.com before March 20 for more information and to apply.
