Help I'm doing a study trip - Scandinavia and Switzerland/France/ Germany

[SilliamWhale]

I've decided that I'm getting a bit comfortable down here in the Shire and need to get the brain stretched again and get the juices flowing.

I'm going to do a study tour kindly funded by Farming Connect in Wales (and myself before anyone mentions public money) and I'm planning to have a scoot around Scandinavia and maybe Estonia and then France/Germany/ Switzerland in two separate blocks this year.

Main thrust of what I want to look at is going to be No Tillage and integrating it with Regenerative Agriculture etc. and see what the future may look like. Also I want to meet farmers who have diversified their business and keep it at a family scale rather than just acre eaters (no offence to acre eaters I'm just looking for the innovations). Also interested in the life after roundup situation, how agricultural policy affects things like regenerative ag/ no tillage and if there is any interesting research or public events.

Does anyone have any decent contacts for Scandinavia for me? - Probably more Finland than anywhere. I have one or two in Switzerland/ France but could do with fleshing them both out to make the best use of time

Thanks

 

[whiddy]

Go on a motorbike and forget the farming!! Sorry

 

[PSQ]

Went on a banger rally last year through Switzerland to Rome, and I wouldn't have said there was a huge opportunity to DD on anything but the alluvial valley bottoms. Might be more arable towards the northern border with France Germany and Austria, but it mostly looked like very tidy pastoral and mixed farming, with arable cropping presumably limited by altitude and temperature.
The scenery is *utterly* breathtaking, make time for a drive around the Alpine passes when they open in early June, you wont regret it!

 

[Simon C]

I sent you a PM with a contact in Finland

 

[4course]

I went on a study tour of the austrian alpine meadows in early march, this also included a road trip across holland as well as western and southern germany,whilst not looking for dd I did notice that dutch dairy farms/livestock units are very well managed and tidy. German arable farms are mostly on easy working land have fields of crops far too small for the size of combine their industry leaders build and austrian farmers have the best of both worlds being mostly fully diversified into the tourist industry and still be able to call themselves farmers. In conclusion they are way ahead , oh and their crops looked well

 

[martian]

There's a lot of Scandinavians on here and a lot make the trip to Groundswell in the summer. I'll ping you some contact details of ones I know. Sounds like an excellent trip...look forward to hearing your report!

 

[hendrebc]

@Hartwig

 

[Colin]

Acke on here

 

[Acke]

Im in the No-till swamp! 50 miles west Stockholm . There are a few DD in my neck of the woods. Finland have more DD than Sweden.