A Potato Story

Rediscovering the connection of a community to their land.

by Claus Kropp of Lorsch, Germany

Two years ago, I was able to launch a project through a competition of the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region in southern Germany: WIR in Lorsch. W stands for added value (Wertschöpfung), I for innovative land use (Innovative Landnutzung) and R for regionality (Regionalität). It is based on the observation that in our region, which is highly urbanized and industrialized, many basic connections with regard to food production have literally been lost. Many people no longer know where their food comes from and the majority of the food produced in the small town of Lorsch, which I will talk about in the following, is not consumed there. It is produced for the “global market” and does not find any added value in the community itself. This goes along with the fact that the regional and local infrastructure has gradually collapsed. There is a lack of local processing facilities for food: often products have to be transported many kilometres before they can be processed at all.

With the “We in Lorsch” project, I wanted to set new impulses and reactivate, strengthen or even create a new regional value chain. We used the project funds to create a “field for diversity,” on which we produce grain in cooperation with local farmers without the use of pesticides and partly with animal traction, which is finally processed into bread and sold in local bakeries. We were making wholemeal flour milled in a regional mill, which in turn is now sold in two local shops. And the response from the local population has been very positive.

In addition, we created a teaching and experimental field for animal traction, where we want to clarify the relevance of draft animals in the 21st century and also visibly produce food for the people of Lorsch. The field is located on a busy cycle path and is heavily frequented by walkers. The vegetable crops are cultivated exclusively by hand and with animal traction and finally sold directly on the field or at the local weekly market in exchange for donations.

As an example, I would like to explain this year’s potato crop in more detail and thus clarify our working methods and our standards.

This year we decided to grow a total of six organic varieties, namely Blaue Anneliese, King Edward, Sieglinde, Laura, Gunda and Heiderot. King Edward is one of the very old varieties, originates from England and has been cultivated since 1902.

After plowing the field in spring, the seed furrows were initially made in April with a single-horse ox using a German “Köckerling” combi-implement from the 1950s. Finally, the potatoes were planted by hand. The seed furrows were then closed with a hilling plough.

A sign was placed on the field, which continuously informs about the philosophy of the project. In summer, with the involvement of several Lorsch families and children, the onset of the potato beetle plague was then fought and it was amazing to see that for many parents it was important to show their children and give them the experience of what it takes to produce good food.

A few days ago, we were now able to start harvesting potatoes and another time we dug out the potatoes with the same plow. It was an uplifting feeling when the walkers already expressed their interest in the potatoes as they passed by and on the first day of harvest we could already sell the first bags of our potatoes. A local specialty store now wants to make a potato brandy from part of the harvest for the second year in a row, and we are preparing to sell the potatoes at the weekly market. We expect to be completely sold out in just a few weeks.

In any case, we will continue to try to make our contribution to a new understanding of locally valued and marketed food, using animal traction, without pesticides and, if possible, climate neutral.