Freiburg government council honors farms from the district for biological diversity.
. Maintaining biological diversity in the cultural landscape is an important concern of many farmers. This is shown by the “Farm for Biological Diversity” competition organized by the Freiburg government council for the first time. At a ceremony in the Kurhaus Hinterzarten, the authority honored four main and four special award winners.
“These companies are doing an outstanding job of maintaining biological diversity in our cultural landscape,” said Elke Hpfner-Toussaint, head of the environmental department in the Freiburg government council, at the award ceremony. In view of the rapidly advancing extinction of species, the strengthening of environmentally and climate-friendly agriculture is one of the great challenges of today. The participation of 25 companies is a great result as well as an incentive and a role model for others.
The authority announced the competition in the districts of Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald, Lrrach, Waldshut and Freiburg. Partners are the Baden Agricultural Main Association, the landscape conservation associations in Baden-Wrttemberg, the Bund Badische Landjugend, the Baden Viticulture Association and the Baden-Wrttemberg State Nature Conservation Association. In the next few years the campaign is to be expanded to all nine districts in the administrative district. Oswald Trndle from Hchenschwand from the BLHV board of directors, member of the jury, said: “We are on the right track. The local farmers shape the diversity.” Ultimately, the aim is also to create greater added value: “All participants are winners here.”
Rainer Oppermann, Head of the Institute for Agricultural Science and Biodiversity in Mannheim, spanned an arc from the development of the concept in summer 2019 to the award in March 2020 and the inspection of the jury, made up of experts from nature conservation and agriculture. The evaluation criteria ranged from the biological diversity of the plant and animal species to nature-friendly measures and landscape design. Almost half of the participants come from the Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald district. 15 of the 25 companies achieve more than 50 out of a maximum of 100 points. In addition to a certificate, the main award winners receive 1,500 euros, the special award winners 1,000 euros.
The main prize in the field of arable farming went to the Wiggert family from Lffingen. She manages the Haslachhof with 400 hectares. Special features are the variety of cultures and herbs, a pronounced crop rotation, differentiated use of grassland with species-rich nature reserves and the keeping of backwoods cattle. The main prize in greenland management went to the Till family from Schluchsee-ule. She cultivates greenland on the steepest slopes with backwoods cattle and goats. Two families make a living from marketing their own farm products.
In viticulture, Gut Heinrich Gretzmeier from Merdingen impressed the jury with its wide variety of ecological enhancement measures such as sowing species-rich flower mixtures and installing nesting aids in the vineyards. Viticulture and fruit growing as well as the cultivation of truffles complement each other.
The Geng fruit factory in Staufen almost completely dispenses with the use of pesticides. Special features are nesting aids on orchards, wet areas and stone piles as well as a large number of types of fruit, including 350 types of apple and pear.
The four special award winners: Armin Ritter from Buggingen operates special seed crops and innovative concepts for diversification. The family produces regional seeds and flowers. Thomas Mayer’s company in Kandern is characterized by a variety of farm animals and rare breeds such as Black Forest foxes, Thringer forest goats and woolly pigs. Markus Binninger’s Bruderhof in Ewattingen stands for a differentiated approach to keeping the landscape open on a difficult hillside as well as nature-educational youth camps. Dorothee Manthei from Dachsberg-Urberg takes care of site-adapted extensive grassland cultivation under difficult conditions on steep slopes in the smallest of spaces.
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