Report on the 4th Ecological Growers' Winter Gathering

We just held the IVth Winter Gathering for organic (and organically-minded) farmers in Hungary.  This has become a tradition.  Matthew is co-founder of the event and part of the organising group for this annual gathering.  The aim is to strengthen the organic farming movement in Hungary, through building social and professional networks and by providing a forum for the most open exchange of current technical and professional developments and innovations in organic farming.  This year we had a really rich programme, with many international speakers. Here are a few of the highlights. 

Value Innovation in Ecological Farming by Petro Tibor (one of the 3 co-founders of the Winter Gathering). Tibor gave a great overview of both the crises we face in food and farming and a brief look at the innovations and shifts that need to happen to allow us to move from a desperately unsustainable current food system to an approach to farming which regenerates soil, biodiversity and provides nutrient rich food to all consumers.

Generational Transformation - the role of education - Nicola Bergoff.  Nicola is one of the founders of Hof-Marlizsch, a bio-dynamic farm near Dresden.  We have a partnership with them where we’ve topped up our supplies in the ‘hungry gap’ with their delicious carrots, potatoes, beetroot and parsnips. We’ve also acquired some machinery through them.  Nicola is a founding member of the German biodynamic apprenticeship training for eastern Germany.  This is a thorough technical and human development training, to fully prepare young people for organic and bio-dynamic farming careers.  There is a lot to learn from their training methods, which go well beyond providing the knowhow and skills for farming, but also an education in life skills. 

Climate Change is not just a Problem for the Hungarian Great Plains (Álfőld) - Dr- Gergácz Zoltán.  This was perhaps my favourite presentation. Zoltán is a large-scale farmer and director of various agricultural enterprises.  He presented a pretty depressing picture - giving plenty of evidence of climate change in Hungary and the impacts we can expect from this.  Basically, forget maize production in the whole of the middle and southern region of Hungary, and be prepared to give up production of sunflower and wheat in these areas.  Both rainfall and intense heat are making these crops uneconomic, and if farmers don't change their practices, they will go out of business - as simple as that.  When I asked Dr. Gergácz how optimistic he is that conventional farmers will make the changes necessary - he answered "I am not worried. Those farmers who don't change quickly enough will go under!".  What he did offer though, was a way forward for progressive farmers, who are ready to adapt and make the changes necessary to shift their farming practices from chemical inputs to biologically regenerative systems. "We need to forget herbicides and other chemical inputs, and change our choice of crops", then farmers can have a thriving future and consumers can begin to enjoy real, nutritional food.

We also had a collection of presentations from small, organic vegetable growers who exchanged a lot of knowledge on concrete details on their farming systems - really valuable information for new and developing growers. Overall a great couple of days building our community before the season gets underway. See you next year!