Network of Arable Demonstration Farms

The Network of Arable Demonstration Farms was initiated by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture as a flagship project as part of the its 2035 Arable Farming Strategy. It is intended to promote professional exchange among the farms, to show the public its own work and to impart knowledge about sustainable plant production and its goals - opening doors and gates for EVERYONE.

Contents and goals

The flagship project Network of Arable Demonstration Farms is all about exchanging ideas on innovative plant Production. On the one hand, among the farming operations, and on the other with the interested public. The network currently has 98 innovative farms, representing the entire range of farming operations: From small family farms to large agricultural co-operatives, from traditional cash crop farms to mixed and special crop farms, from 29 hectares of cultivated land to 6,500 hectares. Of the farms, around 70 % are conventional and around 30 % are organic.

The core of the project is the BMEL 2023 Arable Farming Strategy with its eight fields of action: Soil, crop diversity and crop rotation, fertilisation, crop protection, plant breeding, digitalisation, biodiversity and climate adaptation.

The goal of the project is to create opportunities for the network farms to share their experiences, as well as to address a broad audience, provide information and bring the interested public into dialogue with experts. The goal was to provide insights into the daily work of modern arable farms and to discuss current topics.

Task of the DLG

The DLG has two tasks in the network: As a member of the coordination center, networking opportunities are created and around one third of the network farms are searched for each year. In addition, with the International Crop Production Center in Bernburg, the DLG is one of the leading farms and demonstrates how innovative arable farming can be implemented at various (specialist) events.

To project site