Organic Pilot Farms in North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany)

Summary

Since 1993, research, advisory service and practice work together in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) on solutions for selected issues of plant cultivation and animal husbandry with practical relevance for organic farmers. The project that is funded by NRW and the European Union entails demonstration and optimisation of selected organically operating farms and their methods of production as well as professional advice. The project is coordinated by the Institute of Organic Agriculture and executed in cooperation with the Chamber of Agriculture and contributes effectively to the expansion of Organic Agriculture (OA) in NRW.
In this successful participatory and interdisciplinary cooperation between practice, extension service and research, 30 farms that are distributed all over NRW and integrate a wide range of different types of production in their typical local region are involved in developing the research questions, executing experiments and discussing results. Solutions are assessed and optimised on farm level and demonstrated in the practice of major farms in order to secure the knowledge transfer in extended agricultural practice. The feasibility of the methods is immediately assessed by practitioners and transmitted to colleagues.