First bilingual Global Field conference

For the fourth time, Global Field initiatives from all over Europe and beyond came together on the first weekend in March to further develop the educational work of our movement and plan joint steps for the future. This year, however, there was a significant innovation: for the first time, the conference was held in two languages and brought together almost 30 initiatives from seven different countries. With almost 60 participants, the conference was far larger than previous meetings. The multilingual exchange made it clear how strongly the movement is growing – and how important dialog across borders is for successful educational work for sustainable agriculture and nutrition.

Public launch

Together with numerous initiatives from Innsbruck, we launched our conference with a public kick-off event: around 100 people flocked to the Haus der Begegnung Innsbruck. Under the title “Hunger and Abundance”, the speakers shed light on the inequalities of our global agricultural and food system. Global Field-Founder Benedikt Härlin and Innsbruck agricultural sociologist Prof. Markus Schermer impressively presented facts and grievances of international and Austrian agriculture. An outline of topics such as hunger and malnutrition, climate change and the demise of farms made it clear to the audience what a comprehensive turnaround our food systems need. The educational work of Global Fields is an important piece of the puzzle in tackling this task for society as a whole.

Afterwards, three representatives from various Weltacker initiatives presented their educational approaches: Saja Schreiber, who grows according to the Planetary Health Diet with the Osnabrück-based Global Field, showed how her Global Field demonstrates a future version of our diet. A particular highlight was the presentation by Mercy Ambani from the Seed Savers Network in Gilgil (Kenya), who was the first representative of a Weltacker from the Global South to take part in the conference. She reported on how 2,000 m² fields there can feed entire families. Finally, Claudia Sacher from Innsbruck Global Field returned to the classic Global Field, which depicts current global agriculture.

Intensive exchange and new ideas

On Saturday and Sunday, the representatives of the Weltäcker were then able to exchange ideas intensively with each other. In numerous working groups, we developed new ideas for educational work, shared our experiences and discussed how we can organize and exchange ideas even better as a movement in the future. There was a particular focus on developing joint projects and projects with our partners in the Global South. So you can look forward to numerous new projects!

At the end of our conference, we visited the hibernating Global Field in Innsbruck – an impressive project in the middle of the city. Here, the entire neighborhood works together in a unique way and the Global Field becomes a true meeting place.

Es war ein großartiges Treffen, das – wie immer – viel zu schnell verging. Alle Beteiligten kehrten mit neuen Ideen, frischer Motivation und manch einem Arbeitsauftrag in ihre eigenen Projekte zurück. Wir bedanken uns bei unseren Partnern der feld:schafft Innsbruck, die mit ihrer großartigen Unterstützung die Organisation der Konferenz für uns deutlich erleichtert haben. Die Konferenz wurde zudem durch die Förderung der Heidehofstiftung unterstützt.