Our journey within the European project Organic Advice Network

Following up on our recent post about the field day in Halle, we are sharing more insights from our journey, which took place within the European project Organic Advice Network. This project aims to strengthen advisory capacities for organic farming across Europe. In the Czech Republic, it is coordinated in cooperation with Bioinstitut.

As part of the so-called cross visit, we took part in several activities beyond the field day:

• a visit to a 300-hectare organic farm near Halle focused exclusively on crop production without livestock. The farm operates under dry conditions and places strong emphasis on water-saving practices and improving soil fertility,

• an excursion to the research station of the University of Halle, where we visited research plots and discussed the potential for growing alternative crops in organic farming systems, such as chickpeas, millet, quinoa, oil flax, safflower, amaranth, and buckwheat. A key part of the visit also focused on the development of regional marketing structures to improve market access for these products,

• a final workshop focused on developing soft skills such as communication, motivation, and teamwork. These skills are essential for effective knowledge transfer and building trust between advisors and farmers.

We would like to thank the organizers from Naturland Beratung for their excellent organization and inspiring programme and Martin Matěj for excellent photos!

More information about the project is available at: https://organicadvicenetwork.space