"Moving Meadow": An Innovative Cropping System for Sustainable Agriculture

Summary in the original language of the document

The i2connect project aims at agricultural innovations. Last autumn, students from the i2connect Summer School had the opportunity to visit Oliver Schmid, who is pioneering an innovative arable farming system on his parents' farm in southern Germany. His motivation comes from the decline in farms and the expansion of arable land, posing a threat to the small-scale landscape and its ecologically valuable peripheral structures. Oliver Schmid aims to counteract this trend with his "Moving Meadow" cropping system, currently being tested and refined within an EIP-Agri project.
The core concept involves integrating clover grass into arable land, not as a large plot but as perennial meadow strips. These meadow strips remain in place for four years before transitioning. Functioning as ecologically valuable elements, the meadow strips can be harvested for hay or silage. Alternatively, the chopped clover grass can be utilized as green manure on adjacent arable plots. While the project is still in the midst of development, it has offered students valuable practical insights into the challenges and successes of this innovative farming approach.