Agriculture in the district of Ebersberg; Agricultural turnaround for participation – Ebersberg

The adjective “solidarisch” has different meanings according to the digital dictionary of the German language, one of which is “standing for one another”. This is very important to the new Solidarity Agriculture in Neufarn, formerly “Mach-mit-Garten”, which is to be founded as an association this year. Beate Backenhaus, who you can tell that she is serious about the topic, sees the main task of the Solawi in supporting agriculture: “We have to help her to achieve more human production and living soils, not just cheap, cheap, cheap … “. The civil engineer is one of a handful of soloists who met last Sunday on the piece of land leased from farmer Paul Hilger in Neufarn to discuss the future of the association. “We currently have around twenty to thirty people. For the whole thing to work, we need around sixty to seventy,” explains co-initiator Petra Loser.

Michael Freistetter, Petra Loser, Beate Backhaus, Rolf Kühn (gardener) in the greenhouse.

(Photo: Peter Hinz-Rosin)

But how exactly does a Solawi work? Basically it’s very simple: The association leases a plot of land on which herbs and vegetables are grown by one or more gardeners, seasonal, regional, organic. The association members undertake to buy the vegetables they produce for one year. Everyone then receives a box a week full of what has just been harvested. Cost: 70 euros per month. The planning security gives the farmer the opportunity to lease the property without loss, the club members receive fresh organic vegetables: cabbage, lettuce, carrots, celery and whatever else is in season. The risk that a hail, for example, destroys the harvest, then no longer lies with the farmer alone, but is distributed on the shoulders of the soloists – in solidarity. “So we plan to distribute sixty boxes a week from next spring,” explains Loser. In the future, however, the number could still grow. At the moment they are cultivating 1,500 square meters of land, at some point it might be twice as much. In the meantime, you can get fresh vegetables and milk from a refrigerator on site, payment on a trust basis.

SoLaWi Neufarn

You can pick up the fresh vegetables in the refrigerator or have them come in a box.

(Photo: Peter Hinz-Rosin)

Neufarn is not the first Solawi in the region. You orientate yourself to and partly work together with the “Kerschbaumerhof” in Grafing, founded in February of this year. There they rely on the “permaculture” model, in which cycles from nature are reproduced. In Neufarn, even more classic cultivation methods are used; a greenhouse, for example, also enables the cultivation of some hard-boiled vegetables in certified organic soil in winter. But here, too, those responsible try to think holistically. Rolf Kühn, the (prospective) gardener of the Solawi, points to the flower strips that grow around the field: “This is of course great for us, because we have beneficial insects such as bees and parasitic wasps right there.” The latter lay their eggs in the larvae of pests and thus protect the vegetables from attack, naturally.

The founding of Solawis Neufarn and Grafing are part of a larger trend. According to the North Rhine-Westphalia Chamber of Agriculture, the number of Solawis doubled between 2015 and 2017, and 367 Solawis can be found listed by postcode on the national network website “Solidarian Landwirtschaft.org”. There are no figures as to how much of the arable land in Germany is cultivated by Solawis, but it is likely to be low in relation to almost disappearing. Nevertheless, the aim and the motivation exist to make a positive contribution to society.

So is the Solawi a genuinely political project? “Absolutely,” emphasizes Beate Backenhaus. “We are climate activists!” Michael Freistetter, father of two children, agrees: “It’s also about leaving my children and their children with a planet worth living in, and they learn where the food that ends up on their table comes from.” Rolf Kühn also wants to make a contribution to nature conservation with his work. “There are many possibilities that are hardly exploited in agriculture.” Everyone emphasizes that both climate change and the pandemic have shown that we have to rethink the world – and make it anew. The Solawis are perhaps a contribution of the rural bourgeoisie to this transformation.

SoLaWi Neufarn

The farmers and landlords Paul Hilger and Marianne Rist see the Solawi as a way out of the agricultural economy, which is driven by growth and profit.

(Photo: Peter Hinz-Rosin)

The second meaning of “solidarity” is given as “closely connected”, in keeping with the political character of the Solawi. Here you don’t just want to be closely connected to nature, but also to each other, the Solawi should be a community. The soloists rave about their excursion to the nearby woods, which the children were there with. The community is also important to farmer Peter Hilger. He originally had the idea for the Solawi, which should actually become a cooperative, which has now failed for the time being due to bureaucratic and financial hurdles. Hilger doesn’t want to be a lone fighter who runs his farm like a business and only looks at growth and profit. He likes the community and likes being able to get the consumer on board. “I would also think it would be nice if the Solawi could be a social agriculture, so if we could, for example, employ people with disabilities,” says Hilger hopefully.

It may take a while before the Solawi in Neufarn is fully functional. Administrative matters need to be clarified, enough people need to be found, and the financing needs to be in place. With this in mind, Peter Hilger would like politics to support projects like the Solawis. “We really looked everywhere, there is no pot from which one could get start-up funding.”

SoLaWi Neufarn

The members can also plant something in the vegetable patch and, for example, care for the Brussels sprouts – but they don’t have to.

(Photo: Peter Hinz-Rosin)

By the way, you shouldn’t be put off by the old name “Do-It-Yourself”, you can, but don’t have to, help with the gardening and the harvest, although that would of course be an advantage for the solidarity flair. By the way, “Solidarisch” comes from the Latin word “solidum”, which has also evolved into the German “solid”. In this sense, Solidarity Agriculture in Neufarn can also be described as a solid idea.

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