On June 14 and 15, 2023, the Öko-Feldtage opened its doors for the first time in Baden-Württemberg. The venue was the organic farm Grieshaber & Schmid, northwest of Stuttgart, which has been managed organically according to Bioland guidelines since 1981.
Christian Müller, authorized signatory and deputy managing director of Reichenau-Gemüse eG, during the panel discussion on the first day.
The first day of the event already showed the diverse potential of organic farming. Peter Hauk MdL, Minister for Food, Rural Areas and Consumer Protection, opened the event with exhibitors and visitors from all over Germany and beyond. With almost 350 exhibitors, more companies than ever before presented themselves at this year's Organic Field Days.
'The wheel doesn't stand still'
"Although the Eco-Field Days are quite arable-oriented, it's an excellent event," said Christian Müller of Reichenau-Gemüse eG, who participated in a panel discussion on the first day and presented the rapid development of organic production on the vegetable island. "Just under half of our sales by value are organic vegetables these days, and many of our growers are also motivated to invest in organic production. Sweet potatoes and ginger, for example, are grown exclusively in organic quality. In that respect, the wheel doesn't stand still for us."
After several years of strong growth, the current mood in the organic sector is rather tense, Müller further said. "The consumer is unsettled in many respects. The money what still seems to be available is no longer spent on high-quality organic food as it was in times of the Pandemic, but rather on travel activities. This makes itself strongly felt in the organic sales. In addition, especially in the greenhouse sector, construction and material costs have of course risen considerably. However, the tenor on the ground is consistently positive; better times will soon come again. This is also reflected in this year's participation and the number of visitors, but also in the general conditions. The political landscape is there, especially the 30 percent requirement: I'm also sure that the courage of gardeners to make investments will increase again as soon as the Ukraine war is over."
Team of Solana on the stand (left to right): Martin Kügel, Arne Pagel, Andreas von der Haar, Jan Soltau, Paula Röschmann and Elisabeth Brockmeyer.
'Cautiously euphoric mood'
International potato breeder Solana again took the opportunity this year to highlight its range of organic potato varieties, which includes newcomers Lea, Jule and Gaya. Jan Soltau, managing director of Solana Germany, describes the mood on site as 'cautiously euphoric'. Compared to last year, he says, visitor numbers from the potato sector were down slightly. "However, the visitors present were very interested and indicated their conviction that - despite inflation and cost increases - things are getting better again."
"More clearly than in past events, the focus was on roboting, drones and precision farming. Overall, the Eco Field Days are a high-quality technical exchange with players from the potato industry and our presence was more than worthwhile," Soltau further sums up.
View of the potato demo field. In the foreground: the organic variety Jule from Solana.
Sales manager Ingo Bernhard and Manuel Uricher, supervisory board member of Reichenau-Gemüse and organic gardener.
Further information:
http://www.solana.de
https://www.reichenaugemuese.de/
https://oeko-feldtage.de/