Steffen Mallast

In addition to educational work with schoolchildren and interested adults, I was also firmly scheduled to work in the sheep and goat barn. Milking, feeding and moving pasture fences were fixed points in my daily routine. However, the very open approach on the 160-hectare farm also allowed me to gain an insight into other areas of the diverse farm with pigs, cows and varied arable farming. My interest in agriculture was awakened.

Nevertheless, I continued to pursue my original idea of studying veterinary medicine. To my great surprise, I didn't get a place despite my good A-level grades. Rather out of necessity, I then spent a few weeks in November in Wendland preparing for the Castor protests and then did a two-month internship at the federal office of the Greens in Berlin. Coincidence Witzenhausen

It was during this time that I happened to hear about the organic farming course in Witzenhausen and the possibility of starting there in the summer semester. Without ever having been there, I enrolled after reading the information leaflets.

I lived in a hall of residence for the first few weeks of my Bachelor's degree. Due to the pleasant size of Witzenhausen and the almost family-like environment at the university, I quickly made new contacts. The Bachelor's degree course covered a wide range of subjects and laid many foundations that I was able to draw on as I progressed. The many practical elements in particular turned even subjects such as physics into exciting courses. As the semesters progressed, the foundation course, which was compulsory for everyone, became less and less important. Now I had to choose modules according to my own interests and tailor my studies to my own goals and ideas. Towards the end of my Bachelor's degree, I realized that I wanted to study for longer, but only Witzenhausen came into serious consideration for me because of the content.

At the same time, I had become a father, with my girlfriend and the child living in Hanover. It now became apparent that Witzenhausen was not only a tranquil town in a relatively rural setting, but that it also had excellent transport connections. So during my Master's degree, I mostly commuted from Hanover to the university, often staying overnight with friends in Witzenhausen. This is where the advantages of the very free, modular Master's degree course in organic farming became apparent once again. I not only attended seminars in Witzenhausen, but also at the university in Göttingen. Even in Hanover, where there is no faculty of agriculture, I was able to complete courses in horticulture and environmental planning and have them credited towards my Master's degree in Witzenhausen. I wrote my actual Master's thesis in the field of agricultural history. A subject area that unfortunately no longer exists in this form, as is the case at many other German universities.

After finishing my studies, I had a very clear idea of what a future job should look like. I no longer wanted to have to commute (now with two children) and wanted to have enough time for my family. It was also important to me to be able to make an impact with my work and, last but not least, that the work should be reasonably well paid. As these criteria were not immediately feasible in Hanover, I added another degree to my Master's degree. After four semesters of law (including a successful intermediate examination), a specialist position became available in the Green Party parliamentary group in Lower Saxony.

For several years now, I have been able to help shape Green positions in the areas of agriculture, animal welfare, forestry and hunting from the background. I can draw on a lot of what I brought with me from Witzenhausen. And it's not just the content from my studies, but also a large number of contacts and acquaintances.