For the official project start of the sustainability project of the fruit region Lake Constance, Minister of Agriculture Peter Hauk MdL visited a newly planted trial plantation with robust apple varieties in Frickingen last Wednesday. Together with fruit growers and project participants, he symbolically planted some apple trees there to mark the start of the project. Since the end of 2021, the project "Sustainable Production - Genuine Lake Constance Apple" of the Obstregion Bodensee e.V., which is funded by the MLR, has been running. The aim of the project is the sustainable further development of fruit cultivation at Lake Constance.
On Wednesday, April 13, 2022, the Obstregion Bodensee e.V. officially launched the project "Sustainable Production - Genuine Lake Constance Apple" together with the Minister of Food, Rural Areas and Consumer Protection in Baden-Württemberg Peter Hauk MdL. For this purpose, the fruit growers and project partners symbolically planted some apple trees together with the minister at one of the newly established model facilities for testing robust apple varieties and exchanged information about the project goals and contents.
The project "Sustainable Production - Genuine Lake Constance Apple" was initiated by a group of fruit growers and started under the leadership of Obstregion Bodensee e.V. and with financial support from the MLR in December 2021. The aim is to promote sustainable further development of fruit growing at Lake Constance. Through the project, ecological and economic, as well as social and societal sustainability aspects of fruit growing will be addressed and a sustainability strategy will be developed.
The first focal points of the project are the promotion of biodiversity in and around commercial orchards, which has already been successfully practiced for years at Lake Constance and is to be further improved by the project, the testing of resistant and robust varieties to reduce plant protection measures, the survey of the CO2 balance of apple cultivation at Lake Constance and the development of a value-adding marketing concept to make the sustainability achievements of the fruit growers more visible.
At the official project launch, the chairmen of Obstregion Bodensee e.V., Erich Röhrenbach and Thomas Heilig, described the project and their associated goals.
Holistic view
Fruit growing at Lake Constance has always been developing. The project is intended to further promote sustainable further development and to work on some essential topics. "The central idea here is the holistic view. Because it is about nothing less than to simultaneously include and unite food supply, environmental protection, economic efficiency of the farms as well as requirements of society," Thomas Heilig explains.
"We want the fruit-growing families at Lake Constance to continue to produce the great fruit in the future and to be able to live from it. Giving the next generation a good perspective is the basic principle of sustainability," Erich Röhrenbach adds.
The two are aware of the responsibility of agriculture. They also appeal to the consumers' responsibility to pay attention to regional fruit and to make a clear commitment to it, also at the store checkout and in social discussions.
Showcase products from local agriculture
"Apples from Lake Constance are one of the flagship products of our local industry. In addition, Lake Constance is also a leading cultivation area for fruit and the 'Obst vom Bodensee' brand makes an important contribution to the profile and good reputation of Baden-Württemberg as a land of connoisseurs. I am glad that we have such agile producer organizations.
"With the sustainability project 'Echt Bodenseeapfel' (Genuine Lake Constance Apple), the state is promoting the realization and development of a holistic sustainability concept for fruit growing at Lake Constance. Based on ecological, economic and social aspects, we want to strengthen regional fruit production", said the Minister for Food, Rural Areas and Consumer Protection Peter Hauk MdL.
In order to test resistant and robust fruit varieties in larger-scale cultivation under practical conditions and to combine the "best practice examples" already successfully used in the area of biodiversity promotion, two model plants were set up on practical farms. In each case, 150 trees of about 15 varieties are located once on the fruit-growing farm of the Michel family in the Frickingen region in the west of the Lake Constance region. Another trial plant is located in the area around Kressbronn in cooperation with the Kraus and Emser fruit farming families. In cooperation of the fruit growing families, the Kompetenzzentrum Obstbau Bodensee, the producer organizations and other actors of fruit growing at Lake Constance, different trials are supervised there.
Development of a value-adding marketing concept
In addition to the aforementioned goals for the further development of production, the development of a value-adding marketing concept is also a focal point of the project. Together with the various players in fruit growing at Lake Constance, a sustainable umbrella brand is to be developed under which the fruit produced according to the specifications of the concept will be offered. A high recognition value for origin and sustainable fruit production from Lake Constance is to be the guiding principle.
During the meeting, Minister Hauk also inquired about the current situation of fruit growing at Lake Constance and spoke with the fruit growers about the effects of the current crises, food security, cost increases as well as frost and the market situation. Here, the currently very uncertain and threatening situation for domestic fruit growing became clear. The biggest current concerns of domestic fruit producers are the sharp increases in the cost of inputs and the increase in the minimum wage, which will cause production costs to rise sharply and sharply. It is still uncertain whether the urgently needed additional revenue for cost-covering production can be achieved in the coming marketing period. Fruit growers on Lake Constance are in competition with other growing regions in the EU and the world.
The participants agreed that these major challenges require sustained further development with a view to all areas of sustainability. After all, fruit growers must continue to produce sufficient high-quality fruit to supply the local population, while at the same time protecting nature as a basis for production and achieving good profitability for themselves and future generations.
For more information:
www.obstvombodensee.de
