With a pilot project, scientists, representatives of the region and farmers want to work together to preserve the Donaumoos as the largest fen in southern Germany. The aim is to cultivate crops at higher water levels, the Bavarian State Office for Agriculture (LfL) announced on Monday. The first test areas already exist. More than 665,000 euros are to be invested in the StabiLand project by the end of 2028.
The aim is to preserve the distinctive landscape in the districts of Neuburg-Schrobenhausen and Aichach-Friedberg, it was said. Moors are very good CO₂ stores. In the past, they were drained to create arable land. Now work is being done in exactly the opposite direction – with the aim of rewetting the valuable areas.
“In the project, farmers are experimenting voluntarily on pilot plots over a period of five years,” explained project manager Annette Freibauer, Vice President of the LfL. The farmers themselves decide which crops they will grow when the water levels are higher. “Sometimes they use known plants, sometimes they experiment with new plants that cope well with wet conditions.” These could be various grasses, but also hemp or reeds.
The initiative is said to come from the agricultural sector itself. “We need these cultivation experiments in order to get water management in the Donaumoos sorted out in the long term,” explained Gerhard Dittenhauser, chairman of the “Our Donaumoos” interest group. He hopes that other interested parties will take part in the project.
Farmers can register their arable land for one of two experimental models, either for a five-part crop rotation or for the cultivation of experimental crops. “Successful arable farming is possible with much higher water levels than today,” stressed project manager Freibauer. The Donaumoos Association is responsible for monitoring the areas with groundwater measuring points, and the Donaumoos team is responsible for agricultural advice and for the hydrological assessment of the fields.