Claudia Schievelbein and Reiner Bohnhorst
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Practical and writing for organic farming
To the overview
Reiner Bohnhorst has been farming his parents' arable farm according to Bioland guidelines since 1995 and in a GbR with his neighbor for 15 years. On 300 hectares, the "Biohöfe Oldendorf" grow potatoes, wheat, spelt, rye, barley, einkorn, quinoa, beans, peas for seed and seedling production as well as food products for a regional producer association, the Bohlsener Mühle and the conventional food retail trade. Last year, the company also started growing field vegetables with leeks, beet, celery, cauliflower, broccoli and kohlrabi on a small area.
Claudia Schievelbein has been editor of "Unabhängige Bauernstimme," published by the Arbeitsgemeinschaft bäuerliche Landwirtschaft, since 1996, with interruptions for parental leave and a two-year intermezzo at Greenpeace.
Reiner in Witzenhausen
When one came to Witzenhausen in 1991 to study organic agriculture, one was initially a bit disappointed. The professorship existed and with Hardy Vogtmann there was also a chair holder who filled it perceptibly with presence and committed staff. But there were no compulsory subjects and no focus on organic agriculture. When Reiner came, however, it was mainly because of organic farming.
At home on his parents' farm in the Lüneburg Heath - typically with a focus on potato cultivation - he was tired of the frequent spraying for crop protection in conventional seed potato cultivation. "There have been times he hasn't gotten off the sprayer for days, this system increasingly repulses him" he told me when we met. He wasn't sure if organic farming would work for him and the farm he wanted to take over. And then he arrived in Witzenhausen and there were hardly any courses on organic farming. What there had been would be classic farmer's sons and daughters studying conventional agriculture and organic freaks who wanted something different. Reiner somehow found himself fitting in neither with the one nor the other and made friends with Saxonian former LPG youngsters who had ended up in Witzenhausen because of the ex-border proximity. Over time, it became clear to him that the diversity in Witzenhausen was greater than he had thought at first glance. In the lectures, among the "knitted" as well as among the "small-minded", there were open-minded, interested realists as well as fundies and wanderers between the worlds, like himself.
Claudia in Witzenhausen
I also came to Witzenhausen because of organic farming, without a farm and without the desire to do practical farming. I was interested in the subjects of how environmentally friendly agriculture without chemical pesticides, how species-appropriate animal husbandry can work, and how politics must be to support something like this. So I was also a bit disappointed when I arrived. But my view of Witzenhausen and of agriculture as such also changed, black and white gave way to a variety of colors and possibilities. And then fellow students essentially introduced the focus on organic farming in Witzenhausen. It was no longer just about different content but also about different forms of teaching and learning. Conferences, excursions, seminars designed by students themselves, what an adventure! There was so much to try out and experience. I have never studied with more commitment, invested more time, nerves and brainpower than in the last year in Witzenhausen.
Common life path
The classic study of agriculture is associated with the cliché of being a marriage market for farm heirs waiting for their parents to reach retirement age. Witzenhausen has the cliché that by the fourth semester at the latest, you have a dog or a child or both. Reiner and I only really got to know each other shortly before we started our new focus on organic farming together; we got the children and the dog later. Reiner went back home from Witzenhausen at that time and converted the parental farm. With all the difficulties and disputes that we had worked on so beautifully in theory during our studies. But it succeeded and has succeeded for 25 years now. I was able to combine my until then only secret love of writing with agriculture and agricultural policy, because I had met the Independent Farmers' Voice in Witzenhausen and got a job there after finishing my studies. For that, too, I still have the tools to not see things in black and white. It is the diversity that makes up life and that has always made up Witzenhausen. In the teaching, in the people who learn and work there, in the way learning and working is done. And celebrated - what would Witzenhausen have been without the Tropical Festival of that time?
Reiner and I, we owe a lot to our time there, especially to ourselves.
Comments
Ludger Beesten: A great idea what you publish there. I enjoy reading the history of the University of Witzenhausen and these "practical reports". I am already curious how it will continue.
Michael Hesse: Thanks for the interesting facts and the nice language.
Katja Mahal: Thank you for these wonderful insights and stories! Makes huge fun to read them. Many love greetings from the snow
Christoph Arndt: In my memory, the preservation of Witzenhausen in 1995, after some forces wanted to liquidate Witzenhausen in favor of Gießen, is very much due to Professor Dr. Jutzi. Through his experience, his calm, matter-of-fact manner, and his outstanding reputation as a scientist, he was probably the one who raised Witzenhausen to a new level with more scientific character and less technical school character. I think we owe him a great deal, at least that was the tenor in 1995 especially among faculty in the international department. With kind regards from Chisinau
Daniela Hirsch: Christian writes from my soul. I felt the same way during my time in Witzenhausen (1997 to 2002). An inspiring time with great people and a study that teaches you much more than just knowledge. It had a deep impact on me and I wouldn't want to miss it. A very special place. I could feel that again when I came back after many years in 2019 and we celebrated with many people from back then in the club.