When the editor-in-chief grabs the pitchfork: A working visit to the farm of the future

The world is changing and so is agriculture.

Editor-in-Chief Georg Anastasiadis visited a farmer who is trying out solutions to the numerous problems of the present: Franz Demmel from Schönrain – the future farmer.

Schönrain

– A spring day in 2022. At the Huabahof in Schönrain, municipality of Königsdorf, the cows take it easy.

They eat, doze, and every now and then a direction milking robot moves.

We have an appointment with Franz Demmel (51), the visionary of an industry that is currently not having an easy time.

Station 1: The stable, outside

Georg Anastasiadis:

Mr. Demmel, I just looked at your animals.

They seem to be doing great.

They have plenty of space, and one scratched her brush with relish.

Franz Demmel:

We offer our cows a certain level of comfort.

Animal welfare is the be-all and end-all. A question for the journalists: how much do most people spend on their mattresses?

Anastasiadis:

As far as I know, the cheapest start at 200 euros.

Demmel:

The mats for our cows cost just under 300 euros each.

They offer many advantages, the animals can drop their knees on them and don't get any bruises.

But the normal farmer cannot afford that.

The corresponding prices cannot be achieved on the market.

Anastasiadis:

How can you afford that?

Demmel:

An important point.

As a graduate engineer and architect, I earn quite well and I'm insane enough to butter up the profits here.

In this form, hardly any farmer will be able to imitate it 1:1.

But maybe there are suggestions.

It's like a bouquet of flowers where everyone can pluck something out of it.

Anastasiadis:

What chip do your animals have on their feet?

Demmel:

It's a so-called pedometer.

He measures the meters that the cow makes.

If one hardly moves, we take a look at her to see if she is sick.

If she's moving more than normal, she's probably on heat.

The animals on my farm can move about freely.

They go to milk when it suits them and they go to pasture when they want.

Anastasiadis:

It's incredible what a high-tech farm you have there.

Demmel:

The technology plays an important role, yes.

With us, everything runs automatically, from the feed pusher and the slat cleaner to the milking robot.

We also produce the energy for this ourselves, via the photovoltaic system on our roof, we are almost self-sufficient.

Our major concern is to reconcile technology, animal welfare and sustainability on our farm.

I always say: either we will find imitators as a flagship project or we will end up as a memorial to failed rural agriculture.

Then it will say: Mei, somebody just spun it.

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Serious topic: After lunch, Franz and Gerlinde Demmel discussed the agricultural situation with the Merkur employees (3rd from left) Volker Ufertinger, Claudia Muschiol and editor-in-chief Georg Anastasiadis.

© Marcus sleep

Anastasiadis:

How would you describe the situation of the normal, conventional farmer?

Demmel:

Very simple.

His back is against the wall, and has been for a long time.

The whole system is out of balance.

There are many interest groups that benefit from the fact that the food is so cheap.

It's great when milk, butter and meat cost almost nothing.

Except for the farmer.

Anastasiadis:

How much should the price increase for the consumer?

Demmel:

If we do what is best for the environment and climate, product prices would have to rise by 50 percent.

This type of farming is extremely expensive.

Demmel:

Do you notice anything?

Station 2: The stable, inside

Anastasiadis:

It doesn't smell like cow at all.

Demmel:

Exactly, we don't have the usual stable steam.

The fans, the side blinds and the roof made of spruce and larch wood, which also stores CO2, ensure a good climate.

Anastasiadis:

How much funding from the Free State is there in this?

Demmel:

Zero, unfortunately.

Except for the charging stations for e-cars, which Economics Minister Hubert Aiwanger donated some time ago, nothing at all.

That's what I criticize: It's not enough for politicians to always talk about resource conservation and climate protection, they also have to spend money.

Nothing against the expensive program to reintroduce bearded vultures, but this is important too.

Hardly anyone seems to realize what a farmer achieves.

Or better: could afford.

It's the most underrated job ever.

Anastasiadis:

So not just a food producer?

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Thanks to the fan and high wooden roof, there isn't the usual stable steam.

© Marcus sleep

Demmel:

The farmer has social tasks without end, species protection, the preservation of the cultural landscape, building culture, water protection, energy production.

80 percent of the area in Bavaria is used for agriculture and forestry.

But I have the impression that nobody understands the potential that lies idle.

But more on that in a moment.

Station 3: The server room

Demmel:

We are now in the brain of our farm, in the server room.

Anastasiadis:

What do you see on the screens?

Demmel:

This is where all controls come together.

You can see who is currently using how much electricity.

Our energy management system ensures that the electricity is distributed correctly.

There are things that can wait, such as the liquid manure pump.

It runs when the photovoltaic system is at full throttle at midday.

But the milking robot always has to run.

Anastasiadis:

The Farmer as Energy Producer.

Can this be a model for the future?

Demmel:

I'm firmly convinced of that, and it's relatively easy to calculate.

There are around 30,000 farms in Bavaria.

Even if only a third of them, i.e. 10,000, produce as much electricity as we do, then we can get peak loads of 2,500 megawatts by the hour.

And that corresponds to what the nuclear power plants Isar 1 and 2 produce!

And together.

Those are the untapped potentials I mean.

And we're talking about fracking at the moment!

You want to sink into the ground.

Anastasiadis:

What threatens our agriculture if nothing changes?

Demmel:

You only have to look at Russia or America.

What you see there are agricultural deserts.

You get the maximum out of the soil with chemicals, as long as it works.

The perverse thing is that this ecologically catastrophic approach pays off economically.

Station 4: The living room

Anastasiadis:

Thank you very much for the tour of your farm, Mr. Demmel.

I am very impressed.

What drives you to run such an extraordinary farm?

Demmel:

The basic motivation is concern for the world in which my children and grandchildren will live.

I see it quite globally: If it goes on like this, we will destroy the planet.

When our generation is later asked: "Didn't you notice anything?", I would like to be able to answer: "We fought against it with all possible means."

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Almost wellness: the cattle brushes.

The cow likes it, you can see that.

© Marcus sleep

Anastasiadis:

The world is going through a war that is also redefining the parameters for agriculture.

Despite all the tragedy, is this war also an opportunity?

Demmel:

Agriculture, like all areas of life, is feeling the negative consequences, keyword being the price of diesel.

Of course, this also gives us farmers a lot of trouble.

But at the moment there is also this hello-awake effect that self-sufficiency is enormously important.

It is high time to take a fresh look at European agricultural policy.

Anastasiadis:

Where would you start?

Demmel:

You would have to do an honest opening balance, which above all shows how many people will have to be fed in the future.

Personally, I assume 550 million in Europe, if you include the expected refugee movements.

And then you would have to think about how to proceed.

It won't work only organically, we also need conventional agriculture.

Anastasiadis:

The Greens say that grain shortages will have terrible consequences for the developing world.

We should reduce the consumption of meat and milk so that the grain gets to the people in Africa and not into the stomachs of animals.

Do you agree?

Demmel:

There is no question that it makes more sense to eat less meat.

But the generalization does not help us any further.

In the grassland belt like here in the Tölzer Land, nothing works without animal stomachs.

Through him we transform grass into milk and flesh.

In the meantime, this has also reached the Minister of Agriculture Özdemir.

Anastasiadis:

Earlier you spoke of a lighthouse or a memorial.

Hand on heart: Are you currently heading in the direction of the lighthouse or the memorial?

Demmel:

I'm not optimistic at the moment.

A lot of convincing still needs to be done.

But it's still time to wake up.

BY VOLKER UFERTINGER (TEXT) AND MARCUS SCHLAF (PHOTOS)

What makes the Huabahof so special: facts and figures

Schönrain – Franz Demmel (51) is the tenth generation to run the Huabahof.

He was a professional ice hockey player for the Kölner Haie and the Tölzer Löwen and studied technical environmental protection.

In 2019, he decided to build a new dairy cow barn a few hundred meters from the original farm that was as animal and environmentally friendly as possible, which would enable CO2-neutral cattle farming.

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Farmers with a heart: Franz and Gerlinde Demmel in front of their house in Schönrain.

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He runs the family business together with his wife Gerlinde, daughter Kathi and son Xaver.

Here are a few examples of what makes the company unique.

- Demmel used spruce and larch wood for the

the roof and the facade.

The solid wooden panels ensure that the stable does not heat up in summer.

The bricks and the photovoltaic system on the roof provide an additional insulating effect.

- The

is 55 meters long and 30 meters wide.

The ridge is 10.55 meters high.

The tread consists of concrete and rubber.

Under the barn floor there are rubber flaps with a narrow slit that only open when liquid manure comes in.

Then the rubber contracts again.

This reduces ammonia emissions by up to 60 percent.

A slat robot cleans the floor and helps keep the cows' hooves healthy.

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Tongue out: The animals on the Huabahof are doing great.

© Marcus sleep

do the milking

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Since moving to the barn in March 2020, they have been giving significantly more milk.

On the day of our visit, cow Minosch gave 46 liters, a lot for an organic cow.

Mastitis, i.e. inflammation of the udder, is very rare.

- At the Huabahof,

, except for the tractors.

These include the electric farm loader, an electric wheel loader and the electric feed mixer.

Xaver Demmel recently tried out the prototype of an e-tractor and had good experiences.

Franz Demmel would like manufacturers to build their vehicles bidirectionally, i.e. capable of loading and unloading.

This would make it possible to use agricultural machinery as mobile storage.

- The Demmels produce almost all of the electricity they need themselves with the

. That's around 300,000 kilowatt hours per year.

A stationary lithium-ion battery stores the solar power and distributes it to the machines and devices as required.

The milking robots consume the most electricity, around 20 kilowatt hours a day.

The Demmels also use solar power to cool the milk.

- The family hopes that other farmers will soon jump on the electric train.

Their vision is to set up a

network.

10,000 farms could generate 2,500 megawatts of electricity.

- When building his dairy cow barn, Franz Demmel worked together with science, namely with the Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences and the Technical University of Munich.

The Huabahof is a partner of the

Together they developed a prototype of the energy management system that intelligently distributes the electricity generated by the photovoltaic system.

"Depending on what is currently pending, the system creates priorities," explains Prof. Jörn Stumpenhausen.

The milking robot, for example, has to run constantly, but not the cattle brush.

However, the electricity is not only used to run the farm, but about half can also be fed into the grid.

The principle tested in Schönrain will soon be transferred to other farms, such as a hop-growing operation.

Stumpenhausen is convinced that many farmers would join in, but: "We are a long way from an unbureaucratic regulation." The Huabahof is "unique in the world" and well known.

"You also know him in St. Petersburg and Beijing."

*The article appeared on the occasion of the "75 years of Munich Merkur" anniversary on Friday, May 20th, in the special supplement "Upper Bavaria - a region on the move".