International Study Seminar – Day 3

International Study Seminar – Day 3

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

– written by Cyndi Punke, Andy Brantner, & Robb Creasey – Presiding Fellows

We awoke to another beautiful day in Germany!  Today’s agenda included visits to the DLG Test Center for Technology, Seippel Landmaschinen Case IH dealership, and a visit to a pork producer.

We were greeted at the DLG Test Center for Technology and Farm Inputs by Dr. Frank Volz.  We were surprised to learn of the many different roles that the DLG plays.  In addition to the testing the do, they also serve as the coordinator for a number of exhibitions such as the worlds largest agricultural exposition – AgriTechnica.  It was interesting to note that every where you looked they were promoting that they were “impartial and independent”, which would be very important to how the tests are accepted by farmers and other consumers.  The DLG has over 1500 test reports online and have about 4000 downloads of those test reports per day!!!

Dr. Frank Volz shows class members one of the many farm equipment tests conducted at the DLB Test Center in Groß-Umstadt.

We had an amazing lunch at Gasthaus Zur Goldenen Krone before traveling to Seippel Landmaschinen, a Case IH dealer in Groß-Umstadt.  The dealership is family owned and they actually live on site!  It was explained that the European regulations were much stricter on equipment width requirements than in the U.S.A., resulting in implements that were stacked versus folded.  We found that overall the dealership was very similar to Case IH dealerships in the states with very nice facilities and offering a number of shortline brands of equipment.

The dealer owner then took us out to visit one of their customers.  Mr. and Mrs. Seeger are pork producers.  We found that they were faced with many of the same issues as pork producers in the states and face even more regulatory constraints.  It was interesting to hear that they were importing GMO soybeans to use as the protein source for their pigs.  They were very passionate and were working to educate the public about pork production.

Mr. & Mrs. Seeger (and son) of Otzberg discuss their hog farm and the challenges the face.

IALF Board Member, Gary Baise, spoke to the class on the bus ride back to the hotel about how the government and environmental groups are working to put California farmers out of business by keeping water from them.  He said that California often gets its ideas for environmental regulations from Europe.

The evening ended with a nice dinner at Die Hutte.