This morning was our last day in Neubrandenburg. It has been an incredible time here and the view in the morning overlooking the lake is hard to beat. Alas, all good things must come to an end and we will be heading to our next stop to day. But, not before checking out a sugar plant and seeing a couple more farms along the way.
Our first stop was a sugar plant that was founded in 1883. Yes, it was blown to smithereens in WWII, but they are back up and running better than ever with only one of the old buildings still standing. While I have experience with sugar beets back home, it was interesting to see the similarities and differences that each location has to end up at the same end product. One thing that really stuck out is that they don't have a piler. Trucks just pulled in, dumped and as they were on their way a front end loader pushed them up the pile. I think this limited the tons (25,000) that could be stored there, but maybe space was too much of a limiting factor.
The tour progressed on and we watched the beet go from a dirty, sugar containing root, to getting a bath, shredded, heated, extracted and eventually turned into pulp, sugar and heavy syrup which sugar can be made out of it later.
Next we were on our way to the farm of Jurgen Olhs where his family welcomed us in with open arms for a lovely home cooked meal. And. It. Was. Good! We gave some brief introductions about ourselves and we were off to tour his farm where he and his partner grow silage corn, sugar beets, winter wheat, and rape seed. Included on his farm portfolio is windmills as well, of which he is a big believer in. We talked about the use of precision farming and the "Big Data" that comes with it. Mr. Olhs was very progressive in his farming ways, adopting and embracing the new technology to improve their farm year after year. After touring his farm for a good long while and seeing his cache of tractors, self-propelled sugar beet digger and the worms that were destroying the rape crop, we were on our way.
The next stop is an organic farm run by Dr. Eike Schon Peterson very near the north coast. He and his wife were both veterinarians in West Germany who moved to East Germany to start a life long dream, farming. After they sold their practice they headed eastward with their dogs, 2 cows, some horses, and two kids. Today he and his wife breed horses, raise organic cattle, sheep and helps endangered birds by helping to find cooperative ways to both allow ag production while benefiting the species. I guess it felt a little bit like home as Colorado has done some amazing things to find ways to work with landowners and wildlife so that a continued coexeistance can happen.
We (McCloy Fellows) truly appreciated our guest welcoming us into their home to teach us about German agriculture. We all had an amazing time and learned a tremendous amount that day. We are now on our way to Rostock. I can't wait to se what we have in store.
Cheers,
Nick
No comments:
Post a Comment