Three countries explore competitiveness

By Stefan Nimmervoll

Every ten years or so, the VAÖ from Austria, the VDAJ from Germany, and the SAJ from Switzerland gather for a three-country meeting in the Lake Constance region to further strengthen the connections between colleagues from the three German-speaking journalists’ associations. This time, the event’s “base camp” was located a bit further from the lake, in Ravensburg, Baden-Württemberg. From there, the participants took excursions to farms in all three countries. The overarching theme was “competitiveness,” which was a central focus of all the visits in one way or another.

Vorarlberg was the group’s destination on the very first day, Thursday. Organizer (and current Hartmann Prize winner) Bernhard Ammann had chosen a very special farm: the Lingenhel organic farm. The dairy herd there thrives entirely without concentrated feed; the calves are allowed to nurse from the cows before they are milked, and cheese is made on the farm. Consequently, the amount of milk delivered to the dairy is very low.

In addition, the family runs a well-booked seminar room, where the discussion took place. Partners of the VAÖ included NÖM, for whom Lukas Assmair is managing the consolidation of Vorarlberg Milch – apparently successfully. Thomas Schallner from TerraTec, an innovative company from Bludenz, presented the challenges of mountain farming and solutions such as the Ibex implement carrier.

The second day took place in the canton of Schaffhausen. There, the group visited the farm of Christian Moser, president of the local farmers’ association, which specializes in cattle fattening and biogas production. Afterwards, they went to the GVS cooperative, where department head Ursula Beutler discussed the massive impact of the crisis on the wine industry. Cooperative member Rafael Hübscher cultivates his own vineyard (the northernmost in Switzerland) and, in a practice unthinkable in Austria, has his own wine produced there. He presented his operation over a glass of wine. Canadian-Swiss colleague Marianne Stamm read moving excerpts from her book “Strawberries in the Hay,” which tells the story of her migration.

The evening at the Schleinsee estate in Kressbronn was the nominal highlight of the meeting, as it brought together a large number of prominent figures in agricultural policy. Specifically, the president of the Austrian Chamber of Agriculture, Josef Moosbrugger, the president of the Bavarian Farmers’ Association, Günther Felßner, the newly appointed Baden-Württemberg Minister of Agriculture, Marion Gentges, the head of the Schaffhausen Farmers’ Association, Christian Müller, and Thomas Meier, the expert for agricultural policy and strategy development at the Federal Office for Agriculture, were all present. The fact that the political spectrum ranged from the Swiss People’s Party (SVP) to the Christian Social Union (CSU) and the Austrian Farmers’ Association led to some interesting differences of opinion.

On the final day, the group visited the Härle family farm in Laubbach, Swabia, where they focused on intensive dairy farming. This is combined with a biogas plant and a farm café. The farm owners discussed the skilled labor shortage in Germany at length and also gave Ahmed Rebai, their apprentice recruited in Morocco, the opportunity to speak. This three-country meeting would not have been possible without the generous support of sponsors such as TerraTec, NÖM, and the Vorarlberg Chamber of Agriculture for the Austrian portion of the event. A heartfelt thank you is due to them. We look forward to seeing you again in ten years at Lake Constance. Special recognition is also due to photographer Jürgen Pistracher. He once again documented the event with his camera and made the photos available to the participants free of charge.