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News - Germany: SÖL (Stiftung Ökologie & Landbau) - Foundation Ecology & Agriculture from A to Z

Written by Niels Thrap

Germany: SÖL (Stiftung Ökologie & Landbau) - Foundation Ecology & Agriculture from A to Z

Source: soel.de
By OrganicPortal NewsRoom

For over 50 years the Foundation Ecology & Agriculture (SÖL) has contributed to the promotion and progress of Organic Agriculture. Founded in 1961 by Karl Werner Kieffer and Dagi Kieffer, SÖL is a non-profit, independent institution that promotes and encourages research.

Good soil, clean water and fresh air are the foundations of our life. In particular rural organic agriculture substantially contributes to maintaining this base. SÖL aims to promote this form of agricultural management and supports the farmers in their everyday work, thus providing a way of life as good as possible for future generations.

Objectives

Since 1961 the foundations established by Karl Werner Kieffer have been involved with the initiation and dissemination of sustainable developments. Since the 1970s SÖL has been active in the field of organic agriculture. It considers the effects of organic agriculture on soil, water and climate and presents it as a significant alternative to present agricultural policies.

For many years, publishing books and journals on organic farming, food and environmental issues was a major part of the work. On a number of topics in this area, SÖL published the first books in German. Now, SÖL provides extensive information on its website. The activitiy of publishing and distributing books has been given over to the publisher baerens & fuss. A small number of books will still be published by SÖL in cooperation with Bioland and baerens & fuss.

Networking and cooperating with actors in the organic sector has always been an important concern. This has led to the involvment in a number of projects. Together with other persons and organisations, SÖL contributes its expertise and experience to initiatives which further the development of organic agriculture.

Activities and Strategies

The Foundation Ecology & Agriculture mainly works on an operative basis to implement its goals. SÖL carries out own projects as well delegates them. The regional focus of the foundations' activities is on German speaking areas, but international coorporations are planned in the future. Measures are primarily directed at multipliers from within the organic sector to possibly achieve a widespread impact . We are involved in the following activities:

-documentation of experience and knowledge about organic agriculture,

-incorporation and transmission of knowledge through various media,

-conducting own research projects,

-close collaboration with important actors in the sector of organic agricul-ture,

-pedagogic activities on the SÖL-school farm "Gut Hohenberg" for the education of future generations

Target groups

With our work and activities we target a broad range of actors from academia, consultancy and practice as well as consumers. Our main focus is on the German-speaking countries. However, we also intend to join projects and information networks at the level of the European Union.

At the seminar centre and school farm "Gut Hohenberg" our work specifically focuses on young consumers (school children), teachers and decisionmakers.

Activities

We inform via...

... Books, Journals, Dossiers, Websites. SÖL distributes professional information about organic agriculture by publishing the journal Ökologie & Landbau (Ecology & Agriculture), book series such as „Ökologische Konzepte“ (Ecological concepts) and „Praxis des Öko-Landbaus“ (“Organic farming in practice“), several periodicals such as The World of Organic Agriculture and on the Internet (http://www.soel.de - http://www.oekolandbau.de).

We train...

... Newcomers, Advisors, Farmers. Organic agriculture training is one of SÖL’s main activities. Through a one year programme young people are taught to become experts within the organic sector. Further training for advisors and farmers is held continuously.

We initiate...

... Expert groups, scientific conferences. A major undertaking of SÖL is the setting up of seminars and conferences where people with different interests can get together, exchange knowledge and experiences of organic farming and develop new ideas. Every two years, SÖL coordinates the scientific conference on organic agriculture, where scientists present their latest research and findings. This conference was initiated by SÖL and covers the German language region.

We manage...

... Commissioned work for the federal states of Germany and the German government. Through the contribution of its knowledge, SÖL actively participates in a wide range of activities. On behalf of the German government, SÖL coordinates 100 farms that serve as examples of organic farming to the public, organises seminars for young farmers and works on the website www.oekolandbau.de. SÖL also performs studies and offers expert opinions.

We develop...

... Research projects. SÖL Research projects continuously help develop the knowledge of organic farming. The long term research project “Project Ecological Soil Management“ (PÖB) carried out between 1994 and 2004 investigated and demonstrated ecological soil management techniques. In

other projects, business methods and models for farms are developed and tested in practice.

We connect...

... Different groups within the agricultural trade. SÖL aims to encourage and improve the collaboration between organisations, which often follow different interests, in order to strengthen organic agriculture at large. A very important project is the building up of an organic advisor network to promote the economic development of organic farms and co-operation within organic consultancy.

History

Since 1961, the foundations established by Karl Werner Kieffer have contributed to building a future worth living for present and future generations. While the foundations were active in the areas of education and health during the first decades, the development of organic agriculture has been the focus of their work since the 1970's.

Education

In its first decade, the Georg Michael Pfaff Memorial Foundation was active promoting education in the region of Kaiserslautern / Rhineland-Palatinate. Among other contributions, its support had considerable influence on the positive decision for the foundation of the University of Kaiserslautern in 1969. In that year, a book edition "Ecological Conceptes" was established which continues to provide information on various environmental issues.

Health and Ecology

Realizing the increasing burden on human health which the modern world creates by polluting soil, water, food and the atmosphere and by a multitude of stress situations, the topic of health was established as a second aim of the foundation in the seventies.

Following an inspiring lecture by the Anglo-German scientist Ernst Friedrich Schumacher (author of the book "Small is beautiful") in 1974, the Pfaff-Foundation was supplemented by two further foundations:

The Foundation Appropriate Technology ("Stiftung Mittlere Technologie") concentrated on developing concepts of a technology beneficial to people and its relationship to the environment. It mainly focused on development in the industrialised nations. Numerous round tables and a number of publications distributed the new ideas.

The Foundation Ecological Agriculture ("Stiftung Ökologischer Landbau") was established to raise awareness of the dangers of an agriculture heavily dependent on artificial fertilisers and pesticides and to promote the successful practice of organic farming. One of its main aims was to bring together the various groups within organic agriculture to form one organic movement. Dagi Kieffer, the wife of Karl Werner Kieffer, has been exceedingly active in this foundation ever since its beginnings.

Organic Agriculture

In 1976, the Foundation Ecological Agriculture started organising a number of seminars on applied topics of organic agriculture and viticulture. A large number of books as well as the quarterly journal "Ökologie & Landbau" (established in 1977) have contributed to spreading competent information on the subject.

In the late seventies, the first guidelines for organic farming were developed in cooperation with a range of organic farmers' associations. These integrating activities of the foundation were continued in the eighties and led to the foundation of AGÖL (working group on organic agriculture) as an umbrella organisation of organic agriculture movements in Germany in 1988.

From the very beginning, the foundation has maintained close links with IFOAM (International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements) and has supported its work. From 1976 to 1986, Dagi Kieffer was a member of the board of IFOAM.

Foundation Ecology & Agriculture

In 1991 the three existing foundations were united into the present Foundation Ecology & Agriculture ("Stiftung Ökologie & Landbau", SÖL).