Fabian Beesten
Changing paths, embrasures and light - a heart for pulses
The beginning of my organic farming studies in Witzenhausen in 2004 is a great memory. What a variety of offers, people and surprises! Such a beautiful area. Unsure of where my studies would take me, I threw myself into everything at once until I ran out of steam after three semesters. Where should my studies take me? What do I actually want? And what does the university want from me? After sleepless nights, it was clear: I needed a practical basis for myself and for my studies.
This was followed by three great years of training on organic farms in Brandenburg, Saxony and NRW. Back in Witzenhausen, I experienced a real heyday. I finally had the space to get to the bottom of the many practical questions! Time to get to know wonderful people, try out lots of things and relax. My small beekeeping business blossomed in the Werra Valley and I loved giving guided tours of the tropical greenhouse.
The highlights of my studies were excursions to Austria and Spain and several projects. The air was on fire. Students, teachers and practitioners on site were equally enthusiastic, touched and willing to give their best to create something with substance. A few contacts and works from that time are still alive today.
From Taifun Tofu to garden soy and LegumiN
I brought an interest in pulses with me from my apprenticeship. At the time, it was generally noticeable that lupins, peas and the like were becoming more of a topic again. On a rainy winter's day on the way between the library and the large auditorium in Nordbahnhofstraße, we had a brief conversation with major consequences: Someone casually mentioned that Taifun Tofu GmbH is doing pioneering work in domestic soy cultivation. They might be a good partner for a thesis. This was confirmed after a short phone call. A thesis on soy resulted in a position in the soy team at the Freiburg-based company.
The foundations for soybean cultivation between Burgundy, the Upper Rhine and the Vienna Basin had already been laid, but there was still plenty to do. In order to completely cover the soy supply for the growing tofu production in Europe, good seeds, a lot of cultivation advice, collectors and warehouses and people who take care of the knowledge transfer from the large cultivation areas were needed.
After six fruitful, exhausting and valuable years with full focus on the "miracle bean", I once again found myself in a deep personal crisis. The desire for independence made itself heard; for surprise and risk, and for freedom. My second son was already on the way. I didn't want to get into financial difficulties and used my last reserves to look for ways to become self-employed.
In 2017, while still employed, I founded Gartensoja. The idea was to earn money with edamame seeds from local organic propagation. The Japanese "vegetable soy" was just coming into fashion in Europe. Imported seeds were extremely expensive, and initial trials had shown that seed propagation in the Upper Rhine region worked.
The second mainstay was to be the sale of high-quality, inexpensive rhizobia inoculants for all legumes. After some beginners' luck, there were small and large hurdles, but after eight years I am grateful and happy to be self-employed. Edamame propagation is currently in its eighth round - today, as then, on the same organic farm in Eichstetten am Kaiserstuhl. The topic of organic nitrogen fixation now runs under the company name "LegumiN" and has developed into the main business. As in the early days, the inoculants come from the same good company in England. Customers are seed dealers, research institutes and, above all, farmers from Uppsala to Vienna and from Romania to Portugal.
My wife, our three children and I have been living on Gut Körtlinghausen in the Sauerland for three years - finally back in the countryside!