Bernward Geier

After failing school twice, I still graduated from high school at the age of 21. Instead of military service, I did a social peace service in the ghetto of the US capital Washington D.C. (during the Vietnam War!). After a two-semester course at the National University of Mexico City and two work placements, I came to Werra for the summer semester at the legal age of 25, which had the advantage that we were only 50 first-year students. In line with my passion for animals, I majored in animal production, which was terrible for an "eco", but honest with this designation. We had to learn how to produce animals, which led, for example, to the schizophrenic situation that I had to learn about keeping chickens in cages for the exam, even though I was already committed to freeing chickens from this perversion.

It was clear to me that agriculture only had a future if it was consistently organic. It was a perfect fit that I was able to get involved in the final phase of the ten-year battle for a chair in organic farming. In 1981, Prof. Hardy Vogtmann in Witzenhausen became the first "eco-professor" in the world and I had the honor of being his first graduate student. My topic was a study on the marketing and pricing of organic products, which was also published.

The original plan was to emigrate to Ireland with my partner and our daughter to practise organic farming there. A terrible stroke of fate ruined this and so, as a single father, I accepted Hardy Vogtmann's offer to join his newly established team. As a generalist, it was a welcome challenge for me to devote myself to a plant cultivation topic. My specialty became "non-chemical weed control". A doctorate was an obvious choice, but I came to the realization that I was not cut out for a life as a researcher. For one thing, I was increasingly critical of the established research establishment, to which we "alternatives" also had to submit. I also lacked a basic prerequisite for a scientist, namely the burning curiosity to find out "why's". I was always much more interested in the "where".

When the world umbrella organization for organic agriculture IFOAM - Organics International, which had its epicentre in Witzenhausen with Engelhard Boehncke as President, advertised the position of Secretary General in 1985, it was my chance. Although I was comparatively young for such a job at 32, I was able to prevail over 60 other applicants. It became my life's work, as I was responsible for IFOAM for 18 years. I was able to use the rhetorical skills I had honed during my studies (but not in the teaching program) and my political ambitions. It was an ideal job for a passionate networker like me. However, despite all the fascination and satisfaction, the thought of being Director at IFOAM until retirement age became daunting at some point. So, at the age of 52, I took the plunge into self-employment.

Now I was able to return to the passion of my younger years - making films. Since then, I have created a whole series of successful productions as a filmmaker and (co-)producer. I have also been able to intensify my journalistic activities: I am currently co-editor of the book "Die Preise lügen - Warum uns billige Lebensmittel teuer zu stehen kommen" and lead author of the book "DAS GIFT und WIR - Wie der Tod über die Äcker kam und wie wir das Leben zurückbringen können".

Precisely because of my sometimes extreme jet-set life, it has always been important to me to be rooted in practical agriculture. That is why I have lived on a farm for 30 years. In 1987, one of "my" degree students, my wife and I leased a 120-hectare farm with 60 dairy cows in Saarland, which we naturally converted to organic farming straight away. We have now been living in the Bergisches Land for 18 years on a similarly small certified 20 ha organic farm. Strongly influenced by our three daughters, we dedicate ourselves primarily to breeding Icelandic horses. Today it is a full-time farm run by my wife with 70 horses, where the youngest daughter, a qualified horse farmer, is the mainstay. I enjoy being the "Chicken Joe" for very happy chickens, gardening and being involved in the farm.

Well, as far as the actual training is concerned, rather little. Certainly more than 2/3 of my knowledge comes neither from school nor from university, but from life. But I got a basic framework of specialist knowledge - from inspiring professors such as Engelhard Boehncke, Reinhold Kickuth, Christian Richter, Bernd Wirthgen and, of course, Hardy Vogtmann. This made up for the fact that there were also some rather unpleasant "old school" professors. Incidentally, there was only one female professor out of 30 men in Witzenhausen at the time! The degree course was very "cathedral" or school-based and student life as an "eco" at the time also meant a lot of experience with resistance. We used the freedom of student life to impart the knowledge that was important for our idea of agriculture. We not only invited interesting speakers, but also organized our own seminars and courses. I was also on the committee to help plan the organic farming course. The idea that one day "only" organic farming would be taught was unimaginable at the time. Ultimately, however, I believe that this will save the university location. I also met my wife at the faculty, to whom I have been married for 38 years and with whom I have raised four children.

Wonderful friendships from this time have shaped me to this day, right up to the great vision that I am now committed to. Namely, nothing less than 100% organic farming worldwide. We can achieve this and Witzenhausen is and will remain an important place for this as a globally recognized epicentre of research and teaching in organic agriculture.

All in all, I look back fondly on my time at the Werra. I enjoyed coming back to my alma mater for semester meetings, visits or lectures, and I also enjoy doing so for anniversary celebrations. Not only because I have to defend my reputation: "No celebration without a vulture".

Bernd Kramer: Many thanks for the very clear report, which I (graduate 88) can only confirm in many areas. WIZ was a very important building block in my development and although I didn't attend every lecture, I never missed a tropical festival.

Saro Gerd Ratter: I was allowed to stay in Bernward's shared flat when I first came to Witzenhausen to find out about studying. I will always be grateful for this hospitality and the great time I spent studying. I always look forward to meeting Bernward again (usually at BioFach). I had his book "Biologisches Saatgut aus dem eigenen Garten" in my hands again just a few days ago and had warm memories in my heart.

Joachim Milz: Well, I felt the same way about the courses on offer and later professional reality, but in the International Agricultural Economics department. Unfortunately, I have the feeling that not much has changed in this respect. It's eco today, but the teaching there doesn't offer much in the way of practical experience (my son studied in WIZ). Despite everything, I also have wonderful memories of my time as a student, more of the context, club etc. than what was on offer in terms of content.

Berthold Märkle-Huß: Witzenhausen-GhK-FB 20-Basisgruppe Landwirtschaft BGL-Boehncke. Half a century later, these are still magical terms and associations.
Born and raised in the university town of Tübingen, a traditional university education was out of the question. I knew enough about the eternal, breadless students, the "bums". So short and sweet. However, Nürtingen University of Applied Sciences frustrated me with its barely bearable teaching. In addition, in 1977 the CDU state of Baden-Württemberg created a fait accompli with a university law and the ban on the student union AStA: student co-administration was neither desirable nor possible in the state. The Bavarian (CSU) FH was out of the question as an alternative. Perhaps the former red (SPD) Hesse?
We drove through the winter night in a full VW Beetle. Lack of heating, frozen windows. Almost disoriented, we drove through the Hessian mountains. A solitary light shone in the darkness. It was the club in Witzenhausen, where warmth and openness embraced us... And we all stayed.
What do you remember about your studies today? Anecdotes such as the only demonstration in Germany against the Nato Double-Track Decision in 1979. At the nearby "zone border", we released friendly balloons towards the other side. Then the already existing "computer", which printed out its results on a strip of paper, similar to today's receipts. For the Swabians, of course, the perfect Tagesschau German of the farmers a few kilometers further north... Unfortunately, in my last weeks of study I only got to attend Vogtmann's trial lecture. I could (had to) leave, but WIZ was in the best of hands.
But that was the end of the cozy shared flat, the political home in the BGL, the studies. The hole was there. It was not until the "Hamburg Project Group", the planning of a left-wing eco-village with 100 people and 100 hectares, that a life goal emerged again. Unfortunately, this flopped in the same way as the anthroposophical NEUE WEGE in the Tauber Valley. Interim solutions were plant breeding in Stuttgart-Hohenheim and the agricultural office in Simmern. Then, surprisingly, the good spirits helped to improve the world in Germany with the Circular Economy Act. There were no environmental studies programs yet, so many foresters, biologists, teachers and agricultural engineers sitting around got a good job. Mine was to introduce the organic waste garbage can in Böblingen. The same then happened in Constance. Then, who would have thought it, there was a lateral transfer in the district office "because I had studied agriculture". So fruit growing on Lake Constance became my last field of activity. Although I never heard the term "tree" during my studies in the cherry town. (Boehncke didn't mention the acorn fattening pigs in the forest either)
So almost everything was never planned or foreseeable, but it was the right thing to do and I'm happy with it.