Hannes Lorenzen was senior adviser to the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Parliament in Brussels and Strasbourg from 1985 to 2019. Before starting his career in the European institutions, he carried out research, coordination and evaluation work on rural development projects with the Technical Service of the German Government. On the international level Hannes Lorenzen is co-founder of Genetic Resources Action International (www.grain.org) and co-president of the European Rural Development Network Forum Synergies (www.forum-synergies.eu). He is also co-founder of PREPARE, the “Partnership for Rural Europe” network for Central and Eastern European Member States (www.preparenetwork.org), serving as chairman and president until 2016. He co-founded ARC2020 and is its president since 2016. Closer to home, Hannes chairs a local rural development organization on his home island of Pellworm in North Friesland, Germany, which works on organic farming, renewable energy production, soft tourism and nature protection projects in a local dimension.
Luxembourg | A Good Gardener is a Teacher and Politician
A master gardener and co-founder of the SEED association for the preservation and use of the region’s traditional seed varieties, Frank Adams has long been involved in the legislative battle waged by seed savers to gain recognition for the necessity and specific nature of their work.
September 24, 2024
Letter from the Farm | Wild Geese and Tamed Farming – is it All for the Birds?
The farm shop taking the lead on Jan Gonne’s farm could indeed be his lucky punch – if island tourism and the currently only alternative to the supermarket stay profitable.
September 9, 2024
Letter from Christiansen Farm – Breeding Time
Organic breeding techniques have a different relationship to time and place than genetic engineering methods; other aspects of being in a market economy and of using specialised machinery have their own relationships to time too.
August 28, 2024
Greece | The Sisters of the Seeds
Welcome to the gardens of St John’s monastery in the village of Anatoli, Thessaly, Greece. We bring you a heartwarming story of sharing and sufficiency, in a letter from a visit to the farm by Hannes Lorenzen.
June 28, 2024
Letter from the Farm: Strong Roots for a Surer Future
Investing in a small family farm is much more than an economic consideration: it can help to revitalise an entire village. Rural communities are rooted in multi-generational family farms.
June 11, 2024
‘Established democratic parties ignored problems of farmers for far too long’
The anger of Europe’s farmers is largely justified, but it is heading for dangerous territory. A transition to agroecology is urgently needed in the interests of all farmers.
February 6, 2024