Ecological Agriculture School, Kleve

On a cold winter day a 5 o’clock morning train brought me from southwest Germany to Kleeve, a town which is far north and only 10 miles from the border to the Netherlands. I love riding the train so I didn’t mind the early ride. Kleeve is not a likely place for one of only two government funded Eco-Ag schools, but here was a farmer who had the idea and some dedicated faculty who made it work. The School of Ecological Agriculture in Kleeve offers a 2-year program for students who want to manage and organic farm. All students who are admitted to the program must already have a vocational degree in a green job (achieved with a three year apprenticeship) and a year of job experience after they received the degree. The goal of the degree is to give participants the education to become managers of an organic farm. There are about 30 students in the two years combined. The program first admitted students in 1996. Most of the students are 20-30 years old, about 50% from the state where the school is located and the other half from other states across Germany. Not many international students make their way to Kleeve, which maybe in part because of the language requirements and in part because of the perquisites of a finished vocational degree.

The school is funded by the state of Nordrhein-Westfalen, which in Germany means that there is no tuition. There are some fees, about $2000 over the course of the two years. Parallel to the Eco-Ag school, there is also a (larger) program for conventional farm managers. Many classes are shared between the two programs. Also on site are an agricultural research station, an extension office, a conventional farm and an organic farm. The Eco-Ag students benefit greatly from this diversity of institutions. For example, several instructors have both teaching and extension responsibilities. I used to have a split extension, research and teaching appointment and know how this keeps an instructor always up-to date on emerging issues in agriculture.

There is a good diversity of classes offered with an emphasis on entrepreneurship and business management but also many aspects of animal and plant production are covered thoroughly. This program covers also many important topics that are neglected in many others I’ve visited so far. For example, there are courses in value-added food processing and alternative nutrition. I feel that those are vital topics for adapting an organic farm to an ever-changing consumer and business environment. Other interesting courses cover on-farm energy (such as biogas, biodiesel, etc.) and building (with topics such as farm building design and energy conservation). Yet another set of courses deal with leadership skills because students who finish this degree are officially certified to take on their own apprentices and interns.

If it were a standard organic farming program one would find some gaps in the curriculum topics. For example, there is no further training in machinery maintenance or shop skills. However, many students have covered these topics during their apprenticeship and it is assumed that students are proficient in those skills. On the other hand, I noticed that students also come from non-farm green jobs (including bee keeper or landscaper) and they may or may not have had an opportunity to practice things like welding or maintaining diesel engines.

To have two working farms on site is a great plus for this eco-ag program. Any issues that come up on the farm can be immediately observed and discussed. There are, however, several limitations in the way the institution is organized. Farm and school are completely separated. That means farm decisions are based not on the education needs of the students but on farm management and economics (and also on the need of the research station). Also, the farms are both focused on animal agriculture not offering any opportunities in vegetable and flower production. As animal farms (dairy cows) they are great enterprises, showing a closed circle of production where all feed is produced on the farm and all manure is used to either fertilize the fields of produce biogas. I also found it unfortunate that students are not required to do any regular work on the farm (but some choose to do so). It is again assumed that students have had the farm work experience from their apprenticeship and job experience.

Overall this was a great visit for me. The school offers some courses that I certainly would like to integrate into future LBCC programs (e.g. on-farm energy, nutrition etc.). The visit also showed me how beneficial it is for the students when instructors have experience in commercial production be it through extension appointments or being producers themselves. I greatly appreciate the time that the instructors Ralf Grigoleit and Christian Wucherpfennig spent in setting up my visit, discussing the program with me and showing me the farm and fields.