Our Soil is Our Heritage

Protagonists

Achim Heitmann

Demeter farmer

»I am surprised that people in the city have so few existential fears. They are absolutely dependent on something growing in the country. And I know that conventional agriculture will not bring that about. If anything will work in the long term, it is biodynamic agriculture with all the stops it can pull.«

Sarah Wiener

Michelin star chef, activist

»It takes 2,500 years to build up 10 cm of fertile soil. Who has the right to destroy and remove this soil in 10 years? The soil is our last paradise!«

Ulrich Hampl

Consultant for soil fertility, Bio-Stiftung Schweiz

»In a handful of living soil there can be as many living beings as there are people in the world.«

Stefan Schwarzer

Physical geographer, permaculture designer

»Almost all civilisations on this earth that have developed over the last 10,000 years have come into being thanks to agriculture, but have also collapsed again because of agriculture.«

Mathias Forster

Managing Director, Bio-Stiftung Schweiz

»We have lost between 30 and 50% of humus over the last 70 years. This means that less CO2 is bound in the soil.«

Dr. Jörn Breuer

Agronomist

»We are clearly feeling the effects of climate change in agriculture. Frequent spring droughts and more heavy rainfall events. How do we design our cultivation systems to minimise the risk of damage?«

Urs Sperling

Demeter farmer

»You cannot tell from the product whether the farmer has built up his humus or not. Special services in this respect are not remunerated and therefore they are provided less and less.«

Christian Hiß

Master gardener, economist, board member of Regionalwert AG

»The decline in soil fertility is a phenomenon of incredible proportions in Europe. According to the EU Commission, the damage to the environment amounts to 39 trillion euros per year.«

Prof. Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker

Environmental scientist, politician

»In today's full world, we have far too many people who live by destroying everything. Soon there will be nothing left.«

Werner Kunz

Conventional farmer, chairman of the district farmers' association

»Agriculture cannot practise farming against the will of society.«

Arne Zwick

Mayor of Meßkirch

»We want to protect our agricultural land and do not want things to continue as they have been in the past. If we do not start with a strong signal, nothing will happen.«

David Steyer

SoLawi Ravensburg gardner

»We must start now and today to manage soils in such a way that they become better and more stable in parallel with the changing climate. Soil fertility is a responsibility for society as a whole.«