Kick-off PFN Hesse

Everything was ready for the first major meeting of the new Hesse-wide network for organic farming, which was to kick off the long-term collaboration. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this event, including the handover of the funding decision by State Secretary Oliver Conz, had to be moved to an online format at short notice.
State Secretary Conz gave the official kick-off for the Farmers-led Research Network Hesse by handing over the funding decision of 690,000 euros to the ‘Vereinigung Ökologischer Landbau Hessen e.V.’ (VÖL) on 3 February. For the first time, this network brings together organic farmers as researchers with the Hessian universities of Geisenheim, Giessen and Kassel as scientific research partners. Agricultural advisors from the ‘Landesbetrieb Landwirtschaft Hessen’ (LLH) and the organic associations form another cornerstone in the broad Farmers- led Research Network. Together, they want to tackle urgent issues in organic farming. Two project coordinators, employed by the VÖL, organise the implementation. The aim of the PFN Hesse is for farmers, advisors and scientists to work closely together on issues arising in agricultural practice and to develop practice-oriented answers at a high scientific level. ‘The joint work of these partners at eye level has great potential to significantly advance organic farming,’ emphasises Tim Treis, spokesperson for the VÖL, and continues: ‘With the exemplary Farmers-led Research Network, the entire agricultural sector in Hesse, and organic farming in particular, is gaining significant innovative strength and can thus prepare itself for the challenges of the future. By launching the Farmers-led Research Network in Hesse, the Ministry of the Environment has sent a clear signal to support organic farmers in this situation.’

Despite the major challenges associated with establishing a new network in times of covid, the PFN kick-off meeting was a complete success. This is demonstrated by the committed cooperation of over 40 network partners and is also reflected in the feedback from participants about the event:
‘Very interesting discussion and good presentations’ commented one participant on the workshops, specialist presentations, project group work and cross-project group collaboration, which made for an interactive, varied and informative event. The entire network actively participated in the workshop on defining the mutual roles and expectations of the different expert groups, which made the different perspectives of the experts visible to everyone.
‘Broad discussion, good exchange, goal-oriented work’ was the tenor regarding the cooperation within the project groups, in which expectations were compared, objectives discussed and the joint project concretised.