What We Do
Spring & Autumn School
Spring & Autumn School: Pathways towards a more sustainable agriculture
Agriculture is facing many challenges: Cost pressures, changing societal expectations, digitalisation, climate change and animal welfare requirements. The pressure to change is increasing, and many farmers are uncertain about which path they want to take.
What do the paths to a more sustainable agriculture look like? How can the transformation be shaped? And how can this be reflected in agricultural (vocational) training?
Together with young people in agricultural education (apprentices, technical and master students, university students, recent graduates) as well as teachers and trainers in the agricultural sector, we are addressing these questions.
Information on the Autumn & Spring School 2024
The 2024 cohort will start with the Autumn School, which will be followed by the Spring School (for the same group) in spring 2025. Applications are expected to be possible from early summer 2024. We will inform you about this here.
- Flyer for the year 2023
- Dates & facts for the cohort 2024/25
Two times four compact days & additional offers
Spring School
February 23-26, 2023, Gut SiggenAutumn School
November 23-26, 2023, Gut SiggenAdditional excursions and exchange opportunities throughout 2023
The Spring & Autumn School will take place at the Alfred Toepfer Foundation Seminar Centre on the grounds of the Gut Siggen farm. All selected participants will receive free accommodation and full board at the seminar centre.
The seminars will be held in German.
- Program
In the Spring and Autumn Schools, we will deal with topics such as:
Sustainability and Agricultural Transformation +++ Community-Supported Agriculture +++ Animal Welfare +++ Confronting Climate Change - Agroforestry and Regenerative Agriculture +++ Biodiversity +++ Digitalisation and New Technologies +++ Communication +++ Agriculture in Society +++ Agricultural Policy +++ Resilience of Farms
and much more!
Furthermore, we will deal with the anchoring of these and similar topics in agricultural education, get insights into the personal experiences of farmers with change processes and have a lot of space for exchange, discussion, and the joint development of ideas!
In addition to the schools and as an optional programme, there are also exciting excursions and digital exchange opportunities.
- Application information
Applications for the 2024 cohort, which will start with the Autumn School, are expected to be possible from early summer 2024.
The Spring & Autumn School is a result of the Think and Do Tanks on Future-Oriented Land Use that took place in March and July 2020 in Siggen. A steering group was formed from among the participants to support the foundation in planning the Spring & Autumn School.
Following the successful Spring School 2021, the programme was expanded and supplemented for 2022 and 2023 with an Autumn School as well as excursions and digital exchange opportunities. In 2024/2025, the programme will enter its fourth round and start for the first time in autumn: with the Autumn School in November 2024, followed by a Spring School in February 2025 (for the same group).
Contact
Dr. Klara Stumpf Head of Sustainable Land Use Programmes Head of Science Programmes
+49 40 33 402 12stumpf@toepfer-stiftung.de