Claudia Schievelbein and Reiner Bohnhorst
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Practical and writing for organic farming
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Reiner Bohnhorst has been running his parents' arable farm according to Bioland guidelines since 1995 and has been working in a partnership with his neighbor for 15 years. On 300 hectares, the "Biohöfe Oldendorf" grow potatoes, wheat, spelt, rye, barley, einkorn, quinoa, beans and peas for seed and seedling production as well as food for a regional producer association, the Bohlsener Mühle and conventional food retailers. Last year, they also started growing field vegetables on a small plot of land, including leeks, beet, celery, cauliflower, broccoli and kohlrabi.
Claudia Schievelbein has been the editor of "Unabhängige Bauernstimme", published by the Arbeitsgemeinschaft bäuerliche Landwirtschaft, with interruptions for parental leave and a two-year intermezzo at Greenpeace, since 1996.
Reiner in Witzenhausen
When you came to Witzenhausen to study organic farming in 1991, you were initially a little disappointed. The professorship existed and, in Hardy Vogtmann, there was also a chair holder who filled it with presence and committed staff. However, there were no compulsory subjects and no focus on organic farming. 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 plant protection in conventional seed potato cultivation. "There were times when he wouldn't get off the sprayer for days on end and this system increasingly repelled him," he told me when we first met. He wasn't sure whether 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 were were traditional farmers' sons and daughters studying conventional agriculture and organic freaks who wanted something different. Reiner somehow didn't fit in with either of them and made friends with former LPG youngsters from Saxony who had ended up in Witzenhausen because of the proximity to the former border. Over time, he realized that the diversity in Witzenhausen is greater than first thought. In the courses, there were open-minded, interested realists as well as fundies and wanderers between worlds, like himself, among the "knitted" and the "small-minded".
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 can work, how species-appropriate animal husbandry can function and how politics must be in order to support something like this. So I was also a little 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 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 organized 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.
Shared life path
The traditional agricultural degree course is associated with the cliché of being a marriage market for farm heirs waiting for their parents to reach retirement age. Witzenhausen is associated with the cliché that you have a dog or a child or both by the fourth semester at the latest. Reiner and I only really got to know each other shortly before we started our new focus on organic farming together, we had the children and the dog later. Reiner moved back home from Witzenhausen and converted his parents' farm. With all the difficulties and disputes that we had worked through so well in theory during our studies. But it worked and has been working for 25 years now. I was able to combine my previously secret love of writing with agriculture and agricultural policy because I got to know the Independent Farmers' Voice in Witzenhausen and got a job there after finishing my studies. 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 characterized Witzenhausen. In the teaching, in the people who learn and work there, in the way people learn and work. And celebrating - what would Witzenhausen have been without the Tropical Festival?
Reiner and I owe a lot to our time there, especially to ourselves.
Comments
Ludger Beesten: What a great idea, what you are publishing. I enjoy reading the history of the University of Witzenhausen and these "practical reports". I can't wait to see what happens next.
Michael Hesse: Thank you for the interesting facts and the beautiful language.
Katja Mahal: Thank you very much for these wonderful insights and stories! It's great fun to read them. Best wishes from the snow
Christoph Arndt:In my memory, the preservation of Witzenhausen in 1995, after some forces wanted to wind up Witzenhausen in favor of Gießen, is very much due to Professor Dr. Jutzi. Thanks to 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 a more scientific and less technical school character. I think we owe him a great deal, at least that was the tenor in 1995, especially among lecturers in the international department. Kind regards from Chisinau
Daniela Hirsch: Christian writes from my soul. I felt exactly the same way during my time in Witzenhausen (1997 to 2002). It was an inspiring time with great people and a course of study that taught you far more than just knowledge. It had a profound impact on me and I wouldn't want to have missed 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.